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LIBRARY 

PBINCETON,  N.  J. ' 

No,  Oase, 
My  Shelf, 
No,  BooL''^-''' 


S^n^raved-  Sy  Ji^hri  •' 


/;>..  SuJ^%M^3. 


TRUTH  m  LOVE. 

SEEMONS 


BY   THE   LATE 


REV.  JOSIAH  D.  SMITH,  D.  D., 

PASTOR    OF    WESTMINSTER    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH,    COLUMBUS,    OHIO. 


WITH   A 

BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE 

BY  THE 

Rev.  JAMES  M.  PLATT, 

PASTOR   OF   THE    FIRST    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    OF    ZANESVILLE,  OHIO, 
AND   AN 

INTRODUCTION 

BY 

M.   W.   JACOBUS,   D.  D., 

PROFESSOR  IN   THE   WESTERN   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY. 
"  Speaking  the  truth  in  love."— Ephesuns  iv.  15. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

No.  821  Chestnut  Street. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1864,  by 

THE    TRUSTEES    OF    THE 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

In  the  Clerk's  OflBtee  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Eastern  District 
of  Pennsylvania. 

STEEEOTTPED  BT  'WESTCOTT  &  THOMSON. 


TO 


HER  WHO   SHARED   THE   SPIRITUAL  ANXIETY,  AND   FAITH,  AND 

HOPE,    IN    WHICH   THESE    DISCOURSES    WERE    FIRST 

PREPARED  AND  PREACHED  ; 


To  THE  Afflicted  Flock 

WHO    STILL   REMEMBER   THE    WORDS    OF   THE    PASTOR   WHO 

"preached   CHRIST  UNTO  THEM," 

THIS    rOLTTME 

IS 

AFFECTIONATELY    DEDICATED. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Introduction,  by  M.  W.  Jacobus,  D.D 7 

Biographical  Preface,  by  the  Rev.  James  M.  Piatt 11 

SERMON  I. 
The  Friend  of  God. — Jas.  ii.  23 27 

SERMON  II. 
The  Lessons  of  the  Flowers. — ^Luke  xii.  27 41 

SERMON  III. 
Orpah  and  Ruth. — Ruth  i.  14 65 

SERMON  IV. 
Bearing  the  Yoke  in  Youth. — Lam.  iii.  27..... 68 

SERMON  V. 
Harvest-time  Neglected. — Jer.  viii.  20 82 

SERMON  VL 
The  Sin  of  not  loving  Christ. — 1  Cor.  xvi.  22 97 

SERMON   VIL 
Absalom's  Death. — 2  Sam.  xviii.  14-17 112 

SERMON  VIIL 

The  Finished  Work.— John  xix.  30 127 

1  *  6 


6  CONTENTS. 

SERMON  IX. 

PAOB 

Hoping  and  Waiting. — Lam.  iii.  26 144 

SERMON  X. 
The  Love  op  Christ,  known,  yet  unknown. — Eph.  iii.  19 157 

SERMON  XL 
The  Dispensation  of  the  Spirit. — John  vii.  39 173 

SERMON  XIL 
The  Blade,  the  Ear,  and  the  Full  Corn. — Mark  iv.  26-29 188 

SERMON  XIIL 
God's  Witnesses. — Isa.  xliii.  10 203 

SERMON  XIV. 
Increase  our  Faith. — Luke  xvii.  5 220 

SERMON  XV. 
The  Spirit,  an  Unction,  a  Seal,  and  an  Earnest. — 2  Cor.  i.  21, 22.  234 

SERMON  XVL 
Divine  Guidance  and  Discipline. — Deut.  viii.  15,  16 249 

SERMON  XVII. 
The  Banquet  and  the  Banner. — SoL  Song  ii.  14 264 

SERMON  XVIIL 

Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity. — 1  Cor.  xiii.  13 279 

) 

XIX. 

ADDRESS. 

The  Law  op  Human  Progress,  in  its  relation  to  Theology...  293 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  late  excellent  and  lamented  Rev.  Dr.  F.  Monod,  of  Paris, 
when  addressing  the  students  of  the  Allegheny  Theological  Semi- 
nary, a  few  years  ago,  remarked,  that  "A  minister  of  the  gospel, 
as  he  is  true  or  not  to  his  trust,  is  either  the  noblest  or  the  most 
degraded  of  men. "  If  he  have  no  heart  in  his  work, — a  mere  ser- 
monizer,  or  scholiast  or  worldling,  flippant,  or  perfunctory, — 
if  he  be  a  bitter  disputant,  as  if  that  were,  in  the  sense  of  the 
apostle,  "to  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith,  "—if  he  be  anything 
short  of  a  gospelizer,  and  a  winner  of  souls,  he  so  far  falls  short 
of  the  shining  mark.  Dan.  xii.  3.  It  is  only  as  one  is  a  hurning 
light,  that  he  can  be  a  sliming  one.  John  v.  35. 

It  is  a  question  of  vital  interest  in  what  consists  the  proper 
power  of  the  piilpit.  Most  men  recognize  it  when  they  see  it  in 
some  living  example :  and  yet  they  may  not  be  able  to  analyze 
the  mysterious  quality.  Can  we  say,  that  what  is  called  pulpit 
power  is  quite  the  same  in  all  times,  and  in  all  cases,  even  in 
Whitfield  and  Summerfield,  and  Lamed  and  Kevins,  in  Mel- 
ville and  Chalmers? 

There  are  certain  essential  requisites  for  efiective  and  success- 
ful preaching. 

1.  There  must  he  furniture.  Surely  where  the  preaching  is,  in 

its  main  idea,  a  message  delivered  to  men,  everything  depends 

7 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

on  the  matter.  What  is  the  message  ?  the  substance  of  it,  al- 
ways, the  whole  of  it,  first  or  last — ^what  is  it  ?  And  the  chief 
furniture  is  surely  the  message  itself,  well  understood  and  ar- 
ranged. Familiarity  with  the  Scripture  must  lie  at  the  basis  of 
all  true  furniture,  since  it  is  the  Scripture  that  is  to  be  preached. 

"All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,"  with  all  its 
profitableness,  "  that  the  man  of  Grod  may  be  perfect,"  [ready ^ 
" apriog,^^  apri. — now !) — tTioTouglily  fuvnislied — thoroughly  'made 
ready — (as  a  ship  ready  for  the  voyage)  unto  all  good  works." 

The  temptation  of  the  day  in  some  quarters,  is  to  a  parade  of 
learned  disquisition,  not  considering  that  Christ  crucified,  is  "the 
power  of  Grod,  and  the  wisdom  of  God  unto  salvation ' '  though 
the  Jews  require  a  sign,  and  the  Greeks  seek  after  wisdom. 
Paul  at  Athens,  is  the  model  for  the  time.  The  Scriptural 
Cosmology,  and  Ethnology,  are  to  be  used  to  point  men  to  the 
hastening  judgment  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  God-man  Mediator. 
And  the  Scripture  has  in  itself  the  living  germs  of  all  truth.  John 
xvii.  17. 

2.  But  the  discourse  is  to  be  practical  and  direct.  As  this 
gospel  is  to  be  presented  in  its  application  to  all  the  relations  and 
duties  of  life,  so  it  is  to  be  brought  home  to  the  hearers.  As 
"  having  such  hope,"  we  are  to  "  use  great  plainness  (openness) 
of  speech,"  2  Cor.  iii.  12,  13,  "and  not  as  Moses,  which  put  a 
vail  on  his  face," — only  indirect  and  restricted  and  partial. 

The  dull  rehearsing  of  the  generalities  and  common-places  of 
Theology,  as  if  merely  to  fill  out  the  hour,  is  not  adapted  to 
move  the  congregation.  The  most  brilliant  essay,  exhibiting 
the  preacher  more  than  Christ,  can  never  be  expected  to  convert 
men.  It  is  not  so  calculated,  nor  constmcted.  There  is  a  man- 
ner of  preaching  which  the  Holy  Spirit  recognizes  as  fitted  to  issue 
the  saving  results.     Paul  and  Barnabas,  in  that  synagogue  at 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

Iconium,  "so  spake,  (thus — in  such  manner,  and  to  such 
effect)  as  that  a  great  multitude,  both  of  the  Jews,  and  also  of 
the  Greeks,  believed."  Acts  xiv.  1.  How  can  a  drawler  or  a 
drone  do  this  ?  How  can  a  learned  trifler,  or  a  frigid  disputant, 
or  a  heartless  essayist  do  it  ? 

That  "Paul  may  plant,  and  Apollos  water,"  without  any 
power  to  give  the  increase,  is  no  proper  excuse  for  not  copying 
Paul  and  Apollos  as  preachers  of  the  word — nor  is  it  any  proof 
that  such  Apostolic  preachers  will  not  get  the  increase  which 
Grod  alone  can  give. 

3.  But  the  directness  is  not  fitting  for  the  requisite  effect  with- 
out a  tender  earnestness.  If  the  language  and  tone  be  harsh  and 
dictatorial,  how  little  does  it  become  the  service  of  Him  who 
giveth  wisdom  liberally  to  all  men,  and  uphi'aideth  not  f  And 
just  here  it  is  that  a  vital  distinction  must  be  made.  Here  is  the 
public  call  for  a  heartiness,  which  gushes  forth  in  tenderness,  and 
expresses  itself  in  loving,  earnest  utterances.  It  is  needful  to 
notice  how  the  tongue  of  fire  is  yet  the  symbol  and  secret  of 
ministerial  success,  no  less  than  at  Pentecost.  There  must  be 
fervour.  The  pulpit  is  no  place  for  cant.  Nor  is  it  any  place 
for  rant.  It  is  the  place  for  a  heart  and  tongue  on  fire  with  the 
love  of  God  published  in  the  heart  by  the  Holy  Ghost — ^for  a  glow 
such  as  shall  be  reflected  upon  the  assemblj'' — ^for  an  unction  such 
as  shall  run  down  from  the  head  to  the  garments. 

And  this  is  a  requisite  which  can  neither  be  gotten  from  books, 
nor  bought  with  money.  A  heart  alive  to  the  Divine  power  of 
the  truth,  and  burning  with  zeal  for  its  dissemination,  must  be  a 
heart  in  direct  and  lively  communion  with  God.  Prayer — or 
rather  prayerfulness — the  praying  spirit — is  not  this  the  true 
power  of  the  pulpit  ?  Is  not  this  the  secret  of  the  tongue  of  fire? 
— For  "out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh. " 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

And  only  sucli  a  living  conviction  of  the  truth  as  leads  to  prayer, 
and  such  a  conviction  as  prayer  leads  to,  can  be  the  well-spring 
of  the  true  Evangelistic  zeal  that  is  advertised  for  in  the 
churches. 

It  is  herein  that  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Grentiles  makes  his 
boast,  that  ' '  God  hath  qualified  us  ministers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment^''^ 2  Cor.  iii.  6.  Grod  will  have  the  living  ministry^  not  the 
dead  ministry  !  The  preacher  must  show  his  Divine  anointing. 
This  is  the  proper  unction.  The  baptism  of  fire  comes  of  earnest 
wrestling  in  prayer,  as  at  the  Pentecost — and  thus  occurs  the 
true  directness — that  men  hear  the  preacher  speaking,  "  each  in 
their  own  tongue,  the  wonderful  works  of  God. ' '  And  thus  it  oc- 
curs also,  that ' '  the  Lord  adds  to  the  church  such  as  shall  be  saved. ' ' 
The  whole  question  of  discourse,  of  delivery,  of  matter,  and  of 
manner  in  the  pulpit  finds  its  best  solution  in  this  "gift  of 
tongues, ' '  which  is  the  home-preaching  to  every  man,  and  in  that 
language  which  he  recognizes  as  his  own  soul's  vernacular.  This 
is  the  proper  power  of  the  pulpit. 

The  author  of  this  volume  of  Discourses  was  himself  a  happy 
example  of  these  high  qualities ;  and  he  illustrated,  most  strik- 
"ingly,  this  combination  of  ministerial  gifts  in  the  pulpit  at  Co- 
lumbus. He  was,  by  all  admission,  a  man  of  power,  because  he 
was  a  man  of  furniture,  and  of  earnestness,  of  tenderness,  and 
of  prayer.  None  who  knew  him,  will  deny  to  him  tliis  fair  tri- 
bute. His  sermons  speak  for  him  this  testimony.  They  glow 
with  the  burnished  lustre  of  the  golden  candlestick  when  it  is 
lighted  up,  and  glorious  in  the  reflection  of  its  Divine  beams. 

Rich,  spiritual  discourse,  that  is  also  deeply  intellectual,  and 
shows  the  devotion  of  a  strong  mind  to  the  noble  themes  of  sal- 
vation, is  the  characteristic  of  Dr.  Smith's  pulpit  history. 


f  PEIIICETOIT 


tr  r^ 


\TiiBOLOaiO 


BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE. 


The  author  of  the  sermons  here  presented  was  one 
whose  praise  is  in  all  the  churches  amongst  which  his 
valued  life  was  spent.  And  it  seems  natural  to  suppose 
that  discourses  originating  in  such  a  healthy,  vigorous 
mind,  and  prepared  with  such  devout  care,  and  preached 
with  so  much  acceptance, — though  with  very  little  of 
the  grace  of  oratory  beyond  what  still  appears  in  the 
simple  faith,  and  the  earnest,  affectionate  spirit  which 
they  manifest, — should  be  adapted  to  a  still  wider  use- 
fulness through  the  press.  For  this  reason,  then,  the 
preparation  of  this  volume  has  been  suggested  and  un- 
dertaken. And  in  order  that  the  readers  of  it  may  be 
made  somewhat  acquainted  with  the  man  of  God  who 
thus  preaches  to  them,  the  leading  features  of  his  life 
and  character  will  here  be  given. 

JosiAH  Dickey  Smith  was  born  in  Western  Penn- 
sylvania in  the  y.ear  1815.  His  father,  William  Smith, 
was  a  native  of  Edinburgh,  and  at  the  time  of  the  son's 

birth  was  married  to  his  second  wife.     In  the  spring  of 

11 


12  BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE. 

1818  he  removed  to  Franklin  county,  Ohio,  not  far  from 
Columbus,  where  he  purchased  a  valuable  farm,  part  of 
which  he  devoted  by  his  will  to  the  education  of  this, 
his  youngest  child.  In  the  summer  of  1819  the  father 
died,  leaving  his  little  son  to  be  trained  up  under  the 
mother's  pious  care.  As  he  grew  up  and  received  his 
early  education  at  the  log  school-house  near  by,  she  had 
the  comfort  of  knowing  that  he  was  a  good  boy,  an 
amiable,  open-hearted,  obedient  son,  and  possessed  of  a 
mind  which  gave  promise  of  substantial  usefulness.  He 
had  no  equal  among  the  boys  of  his  own  age  in  his 
knowledge  of  the  Bible  and  the  catechism,  or  in  his 
clear  perception  of  Divine  truth ;  and  his  schoolmates 
regarded  him  as  a  noble  competitor  for  every  honoura- 
ble distinction,  and  a  faithful  umpire  in  every  dispute. 
But  notwithstanding  the  hopefulness  of  his  early  years, 
his  mother  was  taken  from  him  when  he  was  but  sixteen 
years  of  age,  and  before  he  had  yet  become  a  child  of 
God.  In  after  years,  however,  he  showed  in  many 
ways  his  grateful  memory  and  appreciation  of  her  ten- 
der, faithful  nurture. 

In  1833  he  entered  college  at  South  Hanover,  Ind., 
where  he  was  graduated  in  1837.  It  was  while  he  was 
a  student  here  that  he  became  a  subject  of  Divine  grace, 
under  the  influence  of  a  powerful  revival  in  the  college, 
in  1836.  This  change  of  heart  led  to  a  change  in  his 
plans  of  life ;   and,  giving  up  his  former  intention  to 


BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE.  13 

study  law,  he  turned  his  thoughts  to  the  work  of  the 
gospel  ministry.  Accordingly  he  entered  the  Theolo- 
gical Seminary  at  the  same  place  in  1837,  and  finished 
his  preparatory  studies  there  in  1840.* 

In  the  spring  of  1840,  after  having  been  licensed  to 
preach  the  gospel,  he  visited  the  churches  of  Truro  and 
Hamilton,  in  Columbus  Presbytery,  and  in  the  same 
county  in  which  his  boyhood  had  been  spent.  After 
supplying  these  churches  for  a  year  as  a  probationer, 
he  received  a  call,  and  was  ordained  to  the  full  work  of 
the  ministry,  Oct.  20,  1841.  His  two  congregations 
were  composed  mainly  of  the  farming  population  of  the 
adjoining  neighbourhood,  among  whom  the  "  simplicity 
and  godly  sincerity"  of  the  young  pastor  were  held  in 
very  high  esteem.  Such  plain,  earnest,  and  powerful 
presentations  of  the  gospel,  coming  from  one  so  modest 
and  so  gentle,  and  yet  so  manly  and  uncompromising 
in  his  love  of  the  truth,  were  well  adapted  to  win  souls 
to  Christ.  He  laboured  among  them  not  only  with  a 
growing  popularity,  but  with  an  increasing  influence. 
In  1843  the  church  of  Truro  enjoyed  a  precious  revival 
under  his  ministry,  as  the  fruit  of  which  some  fifty  per- 
sons were  admitted  to  full  communion  in  the  course  of 
a  few  months.     Such,  in  fact,  was  the  prosperity  of  this 

*  These  details  as  to  his  academic  training,  with  some  others  embodied 
in  this  narrative,  are  taken  from  an  article  in  "  The  Presbyter,"  signed 
"  G.  L.  K." 
2 


14  BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE. 

church,  that  they  secured  the  labours  of  their  pastor  for 
three-fourths  of  his  time,  and  afterwards, — in  1849  or 
'50, — they  obtained  his  undivided  services. 

Under  such  influences  as  these,  he  was  planted,  and 
grew,  and  ripened  as  a  Christian  minister.  But  while 
his  labours  proved  so  acceptable  as  well  as  useful  to  his 
own  people,  his  standing  as  a  minister  had  become 
known  in  the  Presbytery  and  elsewhere,  and  one  so 
well  fitted  for  eminent  and  more  extended  service  in 
the  church  "could  not  be  hid"  in  the  quiet  rural  parish 
of  Truro.  He  had  been  preaching  to  the  same  people 
for  ten  years  when  the  first  intimations  were  given  that 
he  must  go  elsewhere.  The  venerable  Dr.  James  Hoge, 
who  was  himself  as  regular  as  any  of  his  juniors  in  his 
attendance  at  ecclesiastical  meetings,  had  had  frequent 
opportunities  for  observing  the  development  of  this 
young  pastor ;  and  finding  it  necessary  to  secure  a  col- 
league in  the  pastoral  ofiice,  in  order  that  he  might  be 
more  at  liberty  to  engage  in  the  new  enterprise  of  es- 
tablishing a  Theological  Seminary  at  Cincinnati,  he 
brought  the  matter  before  his  congregation,  and  a  call 
was  promptly  extended  to  Mr.  Smith.  Here,  then,  was 
a  direct  appeal,  not  to  his  ambition,  for  this,  in  its  ordi- 
nary sense,  no  one  ever  discovered  in  his  character,  but 
to  that  holy  aspiration  which  always  possessed  him  to 
make  the  most  faithful  and  thorough  use  of  all  his  ca- 
pacities for  the  honour  of  his  Divine  Master.     Modest 


BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE.  15 

indeed  he  was,  and  disposed  rather  to  shun  than  seek  a 
position  of  any  prominence  in  the  church ;  but  he  had, 
nevertheless,  the  consciousness  of  having  an  important 
trust  committed  to  him,  and  in  a  spirit  of  humble,  reve- 
rent obedience,  his  Christian  manliness  girded  itself 
for  every  work  that  was  given  him  to  do.  In  such  a 
spirit  he  accepted  the  call,  and  removed  to  Columbus, 
where  he  was  installed  as  co-pastor,  January  24,  1851. 
Here  he  soon  attached  himself  to  a  large  congregation 
by  his  genial,  friendly  deportment,  and  by  his  peculiar 
adaptation  to  the  work  of  comforting  and  counselling 
them  from  house  to  house,  no  less  than  by  the  spiritual 
fervour  and  intellectual  force  which  characterized  all  his 
public  ministrations.  He  had  not  been  settled  long, 
however,  until  his  spirit  began  to  be  "  stirred  within 
him,"  as  he  observed  the  gradual  growth  of  the  city, 
and  how  little  his  own  church  was  accomplishing  in  the 
way  of  aggressive  Christian  effort,  in  comparison  with 
the  extended  field  entrusted  to  them.  The  church  to 
which  he  ministered  had  become  quite  overgrown,  and 
families  which  would  have  preferred  worshipping  there 
were  attaching  themselves  to  other  congregations,  while 
the  actual  means  and  capacities  of  his  own  people  were 
in  nowise  developed  to  their  natural  proportions.  A  few 
of  his  hearers  were  at  last  led,  by  means  of  his  stirring 
discourses,  to  see  that  some  increase  of  church  accom- 
modations ought  to  be  provided  to  meet  the  demands  of 


16  BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE.  ^ 

an  increasing  population ;  and  a  colony  of  thirty  mem- 
bers prepared  to  go  out  from  the  old  church  and  form  a 
new  organization.  In  committing  themselves,  however, 
to  the  responsibilities  of  such  an  enterprise,  they  de- 
sired to  remain  still  under  the  same  leader  whose  zeal 
had  "provoked"  them  to  such  an  undertaking,  and  he 
consented  to  sever  his  connexion  with  a  church  "where 
he  was  highly  acceptable,  and  sure  both  of  audience  and 
support,"  and  to  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  younger  and 
weaker  branch.  Accordingly,  on  the  first  of  June, 
1854,  the  Westminster  church  was  organized,  and  Mr. 
Smith  was  called  to  accept  the  pastoral  charge,  over 
which  he  was  installed  on  the  fifth  of  August,  following. 

This  little  congregation  secured  for  a  temporary  place 
of  worship,  the  "theatre,"  of  Starling  Medical  College, 
and  for  three  years  they  continued  holding  their  ser- 
vices in  this  unprepossessing  place,  where  the  pulpit  was 
as  if  at  the  bottom  of  a  great  funnel,  and  the  wall  in  the 
rear  was  hung  with  charts  illustrative  of  anatomy  and 
chemistry. 

But  notwithstanding  the  unedifying  aspect  of  the 
place  itself,  as  respects  spiritual  matters,  the  little  flock 
of  Westminster  went  on  to  increase  year  by  year,  and 
members  were  added  to  them  as  rapidly  then  as  at  any 
time  afterwards.  Meantime,  the  work  of  building  was 
begun,  and  a  commodious  church  of  stone  in  the  Nor- 
man style  of  architecture  was  seen  slowly  rising  from 


BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE.  17 

its  foundation,  and  made  ready  for  the  sharp  slated 
roof.  The  interior  was  finished  in  a  neat,  plain  style, 
with  seats  of  varnished  pine,  and  with  a  gallery  for  the 
choir  only ;  and  without  waiting  to  complete  the  tower 
and  spire,  the  church  was  dedicated  for  the  worship  of 
God,  August  23,  1857.  A  few  years  afterwards,  a 
spacious  lecture-room  was  added  in  the  rear  of  this  main 
edifice,  with  apartments  for  the  pastor's  study,  and  for 
the  social  gatherings  of  the  congregation. 

Thus  the  new  and  difiicult  enterprise  was  crowned 
with  success.  In  1861,  the  number  of  communicants 
reported  to  the  General  Assembly,  showed  an  increase 
from  the  original  thirty,  to  one  hundred  and  thirty,  and 
by  that  time  the  church  might  be  considered  a  strong 
and  well-established  organization.  The  pastor  was  sur- 
rounded by  an  efficient  "staff"  of  officers,  and  by  a 
bevy  of  helpers  in  every  good  work.  His  session  was 
in  more  than  an  ordinary  degree  composed  of  intelli- 
gent, educated  men,  and  they  had  a  very  high  appre- 
ciation of  his  peculiar  worth.  While  they  could  not  fail 
to  discern  "  that  the  oracles  of  God  which  from  a  child 
he  had  known,  were  the  fountain  from  which  flowed 
his  peculiar  power  and  pathos  as  a  preacher  of  the 
word,"  they  observed  also  how  "his  native  vigorous 
intellect  was  so  fully  developed  by  patient  study  and 
discipline,  and  so  richly  furnished  with  the  varied 
treasures  of    science    and  learning,  and  his  heart  so 


18  BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE. 

'  filled  with  the  Spirit,'  that  he  was  enabled  to  analyze, 
expound,  and  enforce  the  principles,  doctrines,  and 
precepts  of  our  holy  religion,  with  a  clearness  and 
purity  of  style,  and  with  a  power  of  argument  and 
illustration  but  rarely  equalled  in  any  pulpit."* 
These  are  in  part  the  words  in  which  they  have  recorded, 
since  his  death,  the  sentiments  of  profound  admiration 
with  which  they  were  known  to  regard  him  during  his 
life. 

It  was  very  seldom  that  Mr.  Smith  would  undertake 
any  literary  labour  aside  from  the  preparation  of  his 
sermons.  In  two  or  three  instances,  however,  he  con- 
sented to  deliver  an  address  before  some  gathering  of 
students,  where  he  was  heard  with  very  great  interest. 
In  August  1858,  he  attended  the  commencement  exer- 
cises at  South  Hanover,  where  he  addressed  the  literary 
societies  of  the  college  on  the  "  Conditions  of  Eminent 
Usefulness."  This  was  requested  for  publication,  and 
afterwards  was  inserted  in  Dr.  Van  Rensselaer's  an- 
nual "  Education  Repository."  It  was  at  this  time  that 
he  received  from  his  Alma  Mater  the  degree  of  "Doc- 
tor Divinitatis,"  a  title  which  his  friends  esteemed  as 
a  well-merited  compliment,  and  which  he  wore  with  re- 
markable modesty  and  meekness. 

In  the  ecclesiastical  meetings,  which  he  attended  with 
conscientious  regularity,  Dr.  Smith  was  always  a  lead- 
*  Extract  from  record  of  Session,  June  3,  1863. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE.  19 

ing  member,  not  because  he  took  such  a  position,  but 
because  it  was  generally  assigned  to  him.  Even  there 
he  shrank  from  any  notoriety,  and  scarcely  ever  made 
what  could  be  called  "a  speech,"  satisfying  himself  with 
clearing  up  a  single  point,  or  furnishing  some  desired 
information ;  but  often  in  a  few  pithy  well-chosen  words 
he  would  show  how  earnestly  his  heart  was  enlisted  jn 
whatever  affected  the  prosperity  of  Zion ;  and  always 
at  such  times  he  displayed  such  fairness  and  good  sense, 
and  such  freedom  from  all  unworthy  motives,  that  his 
opinion  was  possessed  of  great  weight,  and  his  character 
would  shine  out  so  pure,  and  manly,  and  noble,  as  to 
render  him  beloved  by  all. 

There  was,  however,  a  power  in  this  servant  of  Godj 
which  nothing  but  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  could  fully 
develop.  In  the  pulpit  his  mind  exhibited  a  clearness  of 
discernment,  and  a  firmness  of  grasp,  and  a  breadth  of 
view,  and  a  freedom  from  conventional  modes  of  thought, 
that  would  often  surprise  those  who  had  observed  only  his 
quiet  unassuming  demeanour.  His  style  of  address  at 
the  beginning,  presented  very  few  attractive  points  to  any 
one  who  was  not  in  sympathy  with  the  character  ®f  the 
man.  The  singular  opening  and  closing  of  the  eye,  the 
somewhat  prolonged  utterance  of  an  occasional  sentence, 
and  the  unusual  emphasis  here  and  there  given  to  some 
half-concealed,  and  yet  forcible  word,  might  have  been  ac- 
counted by  a  casual  hearer,  as  among  his  rhetorical  de- 


20  BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE. 

feet,  and  may,  perhaps,  have  prevented  his  being  more 
widely  known  and  appreciated.  But  to  his  own  people, 
these  were  merely  the  signals  for  some  clear  and  finely- 
drawn  distinction,  or  some  expression  that  savoured  of 
the  very  richest  vein  of  evangelical  thought  and  feeling. 
As  he  went  on,  he  brought  the  minds  of  his  hearers  into 
sympathy  with  his  own,  and  by  some  touch  of  genuine 
tenderness  would  win  their  confidence,  while  with  some 
powerful  argument  and  appeal  he  would  bring  them, 
for  the  time  at  least,  to  feel  convinced  of  the  high  claim 
which  God's  own  word  had  upon  their  loving,  lifelong 
obedience.  In  the  pulpit,  as  in  the  private  intercourse 
of  life,  he  despised  none  of  the  accepted  formulas  of 
correct  taste,  but  he  made  no  display  of  his  gifts,  and 
sought  no  rhetorical  efi'ect  beyond  what  was  necessary 
to  commend  and  enforce  the  exact  thought  which  he  had 
in  view.  The  general  impression  made  by  his  preaching 
was  that  of  having  been  brought  into  sympathy  with  the 
most  solemn  and  important  and  powerful  truths  that 
man  can  present  to  his  fellow-man,  and  of  having  had 
them  urged  upon  one's  attention  with  the  utmost  candour"' 
and  tenderness,  though  with  all  the  energy  of  a  strong, 
masculine  faith. 

In  the  social  circle,  no  one  relished  congenial  company 
more  than  Dr.  Smith,  and  no  one  excelled  him  in  enjoy- 
ing as  much  of  the  society  of  others  as  was  enjoyable,  and 
in  letting  the  rest  pass  without  any  unkind  remark.     It 


BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE.  21 

was  always  wonderful  to  see  with  what  natural  grace 
he  would  put  himself  upon  a  level  with  his  juniors  and 
inferiors,  manifesting  no  critical  impatience,  nor  any 
conscious  superiority,  but  listening  attentively  to  what- 
ever might  be  suggested,  and  in  whatever  blundering 
fashion  it  might  be  expressed,  and  replying  as  though 
he  had  a  rare  appreciation  of  the  thought,  detecting  the 
exact  point,  and  reproducing  it,  all  enriched  with  his 
own  solid  acquirements  and  ripe  spiritual  culture,  with- 
out seeming  to  suppose  that  he  had  actually  communi- 
cated anything  of  value  in  doing  so.  With  a  fine  vein 
of  humour,  and  a  keen  sense  of  the  ridiculous,  he  would 
show  a  hearty  relish  of  anything  that  provoked  an 
honest,  good-natured  laugh.  And  while  this  contributed 
a  freshness  and  a  naturalness  to  his  ordinary  conversa- 
tion, it  showed  how  his  character  retained  all  the  cheer- 
ful, elastic,  healthy  spirit  of  his  boyhood,  combined  with 
the  noblest  admiration  of  Divine  truth,  and  a  constant, 
devout  regard  to  its  precepts.  The  piety  that  was  nur- 
tured in  the  holy  song  and  earnest  supplication  which 
could  be  often  overheard  in  his  retirement,  seemed  to 
flow  out  as  a  full  deep  stream  of  blessings  to  all  that 
were  acquainted  with  him;  and  every  one  who  knew 
him  could  not  but  feel,  while  conversing  with  him,  that 
he  was  indeed  a  man  greatly  beloved  of  God. 

We  need  not  attempt  here  to  indicate  in  how  many 
ways  such  a  life  as  his  had  its  due  influence  in  his  own 


22  BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE. 

denomination,  nor  to  what  extent  his  fervent  catholic 
spirit  may  have  had  its  effect  as  "light,"  and  "salt," 
and  "leaven"  upon  society  at  large.  Though  the  whole 
period  of  his  regular  ministry  was  spent  within  the  ra- 
dius of  a  few  miles,  his  love  to  the  cause  of  Christ  was 
one  which  took  the  widest  range,  and  embraced  all  who 
rejoice  in  a  blood-bought  reconciliation.  In  visiting 
among  his  brethren,  it  was  his  "meat  and  drink"  to 
preach  "  the  glorious  gospel  of  the  blessed  God,"  and 
not  the  least  of  the  effects  of  his  ministry,  away  from 
his  own  people,  has  been  the  delightful  savour  of  the 
knowledge  of  Christ  which  was  manifested  by  him  in 
every  place. 

Dr.  Smith  entered  with  a  ready  sympathy  into  all 
the  practical  aspects  of  life  around  him,  whether  relat- 
ing to  the  family  or  the  community,  the  church  or  the 
nation.  On  the  right  and  duty  of  the  pulpit  to  set 
forth  the  counsel  of  God  concerning  topics  of  great  na- 
tionffi  importance,  his  views  were  very  clear  and  decided, 
and  always  expressed  with  as  much  freedom  from  every 
thing  like  partisan  prejudice  and  intolerance  as  could 
well  be  imagined.  His  character  as  a  faithful  servant 
of  God  was  so  conspicuous  in  the  very  act  of  speaking 
boldly  against  great  national  evils,  that  no  one  had  the 
audacity  to  accuse  him  of  being  influenced  by  any  of 
the  grovelling  aims  of  the  demagogue,  or  by  any  fanati- 
cal frenzy.     In  the  great  national  contest  which  is  still 


BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE.  23 

in  progress,  he  discerned  the  immense  moral  issues  which 
lay  imbedded  beneath  the  turbulent  surface,  and  with 
all  the  ardour  of  a  Christian  patriot  he  watched  the 
shifting  scene  of  alternate  success  and  defeat,  and  in 
the  darkest  hours  of  the  nation's  peril  could  still  commit 
all  to  Him  who  reigns  in  righteousness.  During  his 
last  illness  he  was  at  one  time  told  of  some  news  that 
had  just  been  received.  As  if  reminded  of  some  ne- 
glected duty,  he  said,  "I  had  almost  forgotten  my 
country,"  and  at  once  offered  a  fervent  prayer  for  the 
government,  making  requests  such  as  had  often  been 
heard  from  him  in  the  sanctuary. 

It  was  at  a  time  when  he  thought  himself  more  than 
ever  qualified  to  labour  in  his  Master's  vineyard,  that 
he  was  summoned  to  the  chamber  where  a  long  and  se- 
vere illness  awaited  him.  At  first  he  regarded  it  as  an 
unwelcome  interruption  of  his  labours.  But  as  soon  as 
he  found  his  disease  assuming  a  more  serious  character 
he  gave  heed  to  the  warning  and  set  his  house  in  order, 
arranging  all  his  affairs  with  calmness  and  precision, 
committing  his  family  again  and  again  to  the  care  of  a 
covenant-keeping  God,  and  trusting  himself  to  the  Chief 
Shepherd  whom  he  had  served.  The  last  sermon  he 
had  preached  in  his  own  church  was  on  the  15th  of 
March,  1863,— (the  text  was  Heb.  xi.  18-20),— and 
from  that  time  for  ten  weeks  he  had  occasion  to  exercise 
the  same  faith  of  which  he  then  spake,  "  Accounting 


24  BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE. 

that  God  was  able  to  raise  him  up  even  from  the  dead." 
To  an  inquiry  from  Dr.  Hoge  as  to  the  ground  of 
his  hope,  he  replied,  "  I  have  examined  as  thoroughly 
as  I  could  the  foundation  of  my  hope,  and  there  I  find 
my  Redeemer.  I  love  Him — I  adore  Him — I  trust  in 
Him.  I  am  content."  And  on  one  occasion,  when  his 
utterance  was  only  in  the  feeblest  whisper,  there  was 
one  affectionate  ear  that  caught  a  few  words  intended 
only  for  the  Master.  "  The  lowest  place — the  lowest 
place,  dear  Jesus."  Such  a  prayer  was  soon  answered 
by  the  invitation,  "  Come  up  higher."  He  departed  to 
be  with  Christ  on  the  29th  of  May,  1863,  in  the  forty- 
eighth  year  of  his  age. 

"  More  years  had  made  us  love  him  more.'* 

To  speak  of  the  sorrow  occasioned  by  such  a  death 
would  require  us  to  go  beyond  the  home  that  has  been 
rendered  so  lonely — beyond  the  church  where  a  plain 
marble  tablet  in  the  rear  of  the  pulpit,  commemorates 
the  ministry  of  "their  Beloved  First  Pastor," — beyond 
the  community  and  the  Presbytery  amongst  whom  so 
valuable  a  life  was  spent.  In  the  Synod  of  Ohio,  which 
met  in  October,  a  casual  observer  could  not  but  notice 
the  tenderness  and  deep  affection  which  seemed  to  per- 
vade the  body  as  often  as  this  bereavement  was  alluded 
to.  It  was  evident,  as  their  own  record  expresses  it, 
that  they  had  "lost  one  of  their  most  honoured  and  be- 
loved standard  bearers," — one  who  was  "cut  off  at  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL  PREFACE.  25 

very  acme  of  his  usefulness,  when  his  mind  was  still  de- 
veloping in  intellectual  robustness,  as  well  as  in  the 
choicest  graces  of  the  Spirit."  And  still,  among  those 
who  knew  him  and  found  it  so  easy  to  confide  in  his 
goodness,  his  name  calls  up  a  throng  of  tender  and  hal- 
lowed recollections  that  must  live  on  in  many  hearts, 
till  all  are  united  with  him  in  a  more  perfect  companion- 
ship, and  a  more  enduring  joy.  Thus  blessed  is  the 
memory  of  a  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved — of  a  servant 
whom  the  Father  honoured. 

'        "  Thrice  blest  whose  lives  are   faithful  prayers. 
Whose  loves  in  higher  love  endure  ; 
What  souls  possess  themselves  so  pure  ? 
Or  is  there  blessedness  like  theirs  ?" 

To  the  writer  of  the  foregoing  sketch,  the  work  of 
preparing  this  volume  for  the  press  has  been  entrusted. 
After  some  necessary  and  unavoidable  delay,  it  is  now 
submitted  to  the  Christian  public  for  their  approval,  and 
it  is  hoped  also  for  their  edification.  In  the  selection 
of  discourses,  regard  has  been  had  to  variety,  both  in 
topics  and  treatment,  and  to  the  presentation  of  the 
intellectual  and  spiritual  excellences  of  the  author's 
mind,  with  the  view  of  continuing  after  his  death  the 
precious  influences  of  his  life.  May  the  same  spirit 
which  prompted  these  utterances  pervade  the  hearts  and 
lives  of  all  who  here  peruse  them.  J.  M.  P. 

Zanesville,  OhiOj  3Iarch,  1864. 
8 


TRUTH  IN  LOVE. 


SERMON  I. 

THE  FRIEND  OF  GOD. 

James  ii.  23. — And  he  was  called  the  Friend  of  God. 

This  means  somewhat  more  than  that  Abraham  was  the  friend 
of  Grod.  "  This  honour  have  all  the  saints."  The  appellation 
was  bestowed  on  the  patriarch  as  an  especial  distinction,  and  in 
the  same  pre-eminent  and  peculiar  sense  it  belongs  to  no  other 
man. 

How  it  was  at  first  conferred  does  not  appear.  It  may  have 
been  by  an  express  and  formal  act  of  God,  like  that  which 
changed  his  name  from  Ahram  to  Abraham^  when  he  was  made 
the  covenant-father  of  a  multitude ;  or  it  may  have  been  ac- 
corded to  him  by  the  suffrages  of  pious  men  in  view  of  the  sig- 
nally gracious  relations  into  which  he  was  brought  with  the  Most 
High. 

The  presumption  is,  perhaps,  in  favour  of  the  former  sugges- 
tion :  but,  however  this  may  be,  it  amounts  to  the  same  thing, 
since  the  title  is  recognized  in  Scripture  as  justly  belonging  to  him, 
and,  in  one  instance  at  least,  is  directly  given  him  by  the  Spirit 
of  God.  Assuring  Israel  of  his  everlasting  favour,  and  speaking 
by  the  mouth  of  Isaiah,  the  Lord  said—"  Thou  art  my  servant, 

Jacob,  whom  I  have  chosen,  the  seed  of  Ahram  my  friend.^' 

27 


28  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

This,  however,  is  not  the  first  place  in  Scripture  where  the  title 
occurs.  Before  the  days  of  Isaiah  we  find  Jehoshaphat,  in  a 
time  of  danger,  pleading  it  in  prayer  as  an  argument  in  behalf 
of  Israel.  ' '  Art  not  thou  our  God,  who  didst  drive  out  the  in- 
habitants of  this  land  before  thy  people  Israel,  and  gavest  it  to 
the  seed  of  Abraham  thy  friend  for  ever?"  These  passages,  in 
connexion  with  the  text,  make  it  plain,  that  if  this  title  was  not 
formally  given  to  the  patriarch  during  his  life-time,  it  afterwards 
obtained  currency  among  the  chosen  people,  and  had,  in  the 
end,  if  not  in  the  beginning,  the  express  sanction  of  Grod. 

Under  that  old  dispensation  of  Divine  grace  there  were  many 
others  whose  "ways  pleased  the  Lord" — righteous  Abels  whose 
sacrifices  he  accepted — wrestling  Jacobs  to  whose  mighty  importu- 
nities he  yielded — Enochs  and  Elijahs  whom  for  their  piety  he  took 
up  to  heaven  in  a  chariot  of  fire — and  a  Moses,  with  whom  he  talked 
face  to  face,  as  a  man  to  his  friend :  yet  from  among  all  these, 
and  a  host  of  others  equally  deserving  of  mention,  but  one  man 
obtained  the  honourable  distinction  of  being  called  the  ' '  Friend 
of  Grod. ' '  Between  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New  there  are 
many  beautiful  correspondences :  and  the  point  in  hand  is  not 
without  its  parallel.  In  the  olden  times  of  the  church  there 
may  have  been  men  gifted  with  loftier  genius  and  called  to  the 
performance  of  more  splendid  services  than  was  this  simple 
shepherd  of  Mesopotamia.  The  great  hero  and  prophet  of  the 
Exodus  may  have  outshone  him  in  the  brilliance  and  magnitude 
of  his  achievements ;  and  the  ' '  sweet  Psalmist' '  of  Israel — the 
man  after  Grod's  own  heart — may  have  been  his  superior  in  poetic 
inspiration;  but  in  all  those  moral  and  spiritual  endowments 
which  endear  a  man  to  Grod,  Abraham  seems  to  have  had  no 
peer.     Him,  and  him  only,  did  Jehovah  name  his  Friend. 

When  the  new  economy  was  inaugurated,  its  Divine  Founder 


I.]  THE  FRIEND  OF  GOD.  29 

called  to  service  and  favour  a  company  of  men  variously  gifted 
with  intellectual  aiid  spiritual  qualities.  Peter  is  always  named 
first  in  the  catalogue  of  the  apostles,  and  though  he  certainly 
was  not  invested  with  the  primacy^  as  Eomanists  pretend,  he 
was  a  man  of  position  and  great  excellence  of  character.  And 
far  above  him  and  all  the  rest,  in  learning,  genius,  and  eloquence, 
soared  the  great  apostle  of  the  G-entiles.  Both  of  these  were 
men  greatly  endeared  to  the  Saviour ;  yet  neither  of  them  was 
' '  the  disciple  icJiom  Jesus  loved. ' '  This  honour  was  assigned  to 
the  loving  John,  whose  distinguishing  excellence  was  spiritual 
rather  than  intellectual.  Under  the  old  economy,  which  in  its 
characteristic  spirit  was  one  of  promise  and  preparation,  requir- 
ing men  to  believe  in  and  hope  for  a  future  good,  the  man  of 
pre-eminent /mY^  was  "the  Friend  of  God."  Under  the  New, 
whose  great  characteristic  fact  was  the  actual  appearance  of 
Israel's  hope  and  consolation,  and  in  this,  the  most  glorious  and 
touching  display  of  Grod's  love  to  the  world,  the  disciple  who 
"dwelt  in  love"  was  its  most  exact  and  complete  tj^DC,  and  he 
it  was  whom  Jesus  suffered  to  rest  on  his  bosom  and  received  to 
the  embrace  of  his  peculiar  love.  Before  Christ  came  in  the 
flesh,  those  servants  of  God  pleased  him  best  who  looked  with 
most  assurance  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  Divine  promises ;  now 
that  he  has  come,  those  disciples  are  the  especial  favourites  of 
Heaven  who  thank,  love,  and  serve  him  most  for  his  unspeak- 
able gift :  and  thus  there  is  set  before  us  all  an  open  door  into 
which  we  may  enter  and  attain  to  this  high  and  blessed  distinc- 
tion; for,  says  Jesus,  "Ye  are  my  friends  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I 
command  you." 

And  though  each  of  us  may  not  be  visibly  singled  out  from 
the  midst  of  others,  as  were  Abraham  and  John,  and  formally 

named  the  friends  of  Jesus  and  of  God,  this  high  and  holy 
3* 


30  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

honour  is  conferred  without  exception  on  those  who  give  their 
hearts  and  bow  their  knees  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  "Hence- 
forth I  call  you  not  servants,  but  I  have  called  you  friends.^  ^ 

The  title  is  descriptive  both  of  character  and  privilege.  It  im- 
poses duty  and  it  confers  dignity.  Friendship  is  in  its  nature 
mutual.  It  gives  2iSWQ][  as  takes:  and  the  proverb  that  "he 
who  hath  friends  must  show  himself  friendly"  applies  not  less 
to  the  spiritual  and  Divine  relationship  of  which  we  now  speak, 
than  to  the  earthly  and  human  friendships  of  which  it  is  the  re- 
cognized law  and  condition.  The  friendship  of  Grod  and  his 
people  is  reciprocal.  In  the  sense  of  the  text,  he  is  not  the 
Friend  of  any  but  those  who  are  friendly  to  him.  There  is, 
however,  a  vital  difference  between  the  attitude  of  the  parties. 
The  love  is  now  mutual^  but  it  was  not  so  at  first.  We  did  not 
purchase  nor  win  his  love  toward  us  by  the  demonstration  of 
ours  to  him.  It  was  just  the  other  way.  "We  love  Him  he- 
cause  He  first  loved  us."  By  the  greatness  of  the  love  where- 
with He  loved  us  even  when  we  were  dead  in  sins,  He  conquered 
our  enmity  and  gained  our  affections,  and  thus,  while  in  the  be- 
ginning, the  love  was  all  on  one  side,  it  is  now  both  mutual  and 
cordial,  and  with  full  consent  the  holy  G-od  and  redeemed  sin- 
ners have  entered  into  a  solemn  league  of  perpetual  friendship. 

1 .  It  presents,  in  the  first  place^  the  aspect  of  duty ;  and  we  may 
occupy  a  few  moments  in  noticing  the  character  of  those  who 
arc  admitted  to  the  dignity  and  happiness  of  being  made  and 
called  the  "  Friends  of  God." 

The  apostle  tells  us,  in  very  express  terms,  that  the  bestow- 
ment  of  this  privilege  upon  Abraham  was  vitally  connected  with 
his  character  and  conduct,  and  particularly  with  the  ohedience  of 
faith.  "And  the  Scripture  was  fulfilled,  which  saith,  Abra- 
ham believed  God,  and  it  was  imputed  unto  him  for  righteous- 


I.  J  THE  FRIEND  OF  GOD.  31 

ness,  and  he  was  called  the  Friend  of  God."  Ver.  23.  The 
Scripture  here  referred  to  and  quoted,  describes  the  faith  which 
Abraham  reposed  in  the  promise  of  a  numerous  seed,  at  a  time 
and  in  circumstances  which  rendered  the  fulfilment  of  the  pre- 
diction a  natural  impossibility.  There  was  nothing  for  sense  or 
reason  to  work  on,  and  he  was  shut  up  to  pure  and  absolute 
faith  in  God:  and  nobly  did  he  sustain  the  trial.  "  And  being 
not  weak  in  faith,  he  considered  not" — the  natural  impossibili- 
ties which  seemed  to  fetter  Omnipotence,  ' '  and  staggered  not 
at  the  promise  of  God  through  unbelief,  but  was  strong  in  faith, 

giving  glory  to  God ."*    The  peculiar  significance  of  this 

case  is,  that  while  it  involved  a  severe  trial  of  faith,  it  involved 
nothing  more.  It  did  not  jeopard  his  interests,  or  wound  his 
feelings,  or  require  him  to  do  anything,  except  just  to  believe  in 
the  power  and  faithfulness  of  God.  This  he  did,  and  the  exam- 
ple is  put  on  record  for  the  instruction  and  the  admiration  of 
the  world.  "  It  was  not  written  for  his  sake  alone  that  it  was 
imputed  to  him ;  but  for  us  also  to  whom  it  shall  be  imputed, 
if  we  believe  on  Him  who  raised  up  Jesus  our  Lord  from  the 
dead. ' '  And  this  gives  us  implicit  faith  in  the  promises  of  God, 
as  the  first  characteristic  of  Abraham's  spiritual  seed,  and  heirs 
with  him  of  the  Divine  friendship. 

And  the  second  is  like,  namely  this,  the  faith  which  shows 
itself  in  unswerving  obedience  to  the  Divine  commands.  In  the 
context,  the  apostle  James  is  arguing  with  holy  indignation 
against  those  professors  of  Christianity  who  rested  their  hope  of 
justification  and  salvation  on  an  intellectual,  barren,  and  dead 
faith  in  the  facts  and  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  and  perverted  the 
Pauline  doctrine  of  "justification  by  faith,  without  the  deeds  of 
the  law." 

*  Rom.  iv.  19-21. 


32  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

Of  this  doctrine  Abraliam  was  brought  forward  as  the  most 
illustrious  example  and  proof.  It  is  highly  instructive  and  spe- 
cially interesting  to  observe  how  the  apostle  James  meets  and 
corrects  this  perversion  of  a  great  truth.  He  does  not  contra- 
dict Paul's  doctrine;  he  does  not,  in  fact,  supplement  it  by 
teaching  anything  which  that  apostle  had  omitted :  and  so  far 
from  conceding  that  the  case  of  Abraham  gave  any  countenance 
to  the  formalists  who  hung  their  cause  upon  it,  he  boldly  brings 
the  patriarch  forward  as  the  most  conspicuous  pattern  of  an 
obedient,  working,  fruitful  faith  which  the  annals  of  redemption 
record.  His  faith,  unlike  that  of  these  pretenders,  not  only 
believed  promises,  but  obeyed  commands:  and  the  latter,  at 
least  in  Abraham's  case,  was  the  harder  of  the  two.  It  was 
hard  to  reason  and  sense  to  believe  the  promise  of  a  son  in  his 
old  age ;  it  was  no  less  difficult  to  reason,  and  infinitely  harder 
to  feeling,  to  sacrifice  that  son  of  promise,  at  God's  command, 
for  "a  burnt-ofi"ering  to  the  Lord."  Never  was  there  such  a 
mandate  given  to  a  servant  of  the  Most  High :  and  the  manner 
in  which  he  bowed  to  it,  stands  and  will  stand  till  the  end  of 
time  to  challenge  the  admiration  and  excite  the  wonder  of  the 
world !  Though  the  command  appeared  to  be  at  war  with  the 
Divine  character,  and  inconsistent  with  the  Divine  promises, 
and  violative  of  the  tenderest  and  most  sacred  affections  of  the 
human  heart,  he  asked  not  a  question,  he  uttered  not  a  word, 
he  delayed  not  a  moment,  but  went  quietly  forward  under  the 
naked  power  of  the  one  supreme  conviction  that  Grod,  in  all 
things,  must  be  trusted  and  obeyed ! 

He  has  reached  the  designated  hill.  The  altar  is  built  in  sad 
and  solemn  silence.  Taken  and  bound  by  paternal  hands,  the 
son  of  promise  and  prayer,  more  comely  and  endeared  than  ever 
before,  awaits  the  fatal  stroke ! 


I.]  THE  FRIEND  OF  GOD.  33 

The  sacrificial  knife  gleams  in  tlie  sim-liglit,  and,  to  all  intents 
^and  purposes,  the  command  is  as  thoroughly  obej^ed  as  if  the 
life-blood  of  Isaac  had  run  down  on  the  altar,  and  the  fire  had 
consumed  his  body  to  ashes.  At  the  critical  moment,  the  angel 
of  the  Lord  arrested  him,  and  said,  "By  myself  have  I  sworn, 
that  in  blessing  I  will  bless  thee— and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the 
famiUes  of  the  earth  be  blessed :  hecaiise  thou  hast  obeyed  my 
voice.'"  It  was  not  simply  faith,  but  the  ohecUence  of  faith,  which 
crowned  the  "father  of  the  faithful"  with  everlasting  honour, 
and,  as  the  apostle  intimates,  secured  for  him  the  title  of  which 
we  speak :  "  Seest  thou,  how  faith  wrought  with  his  works,  and 
by  works  was  faith  made  perfect?"  as  a  cause  is  seen  to  be 
perfect  in  its  efiect.  "And  the  Scripture  was  fulfilled,  which 
saith,  Abraham  believed  God,  and  it  was  imputed  unto  him  for 
righteousness :  and  he  was  called  the  Friend  of  God. 

And  thus  we  have  a  vivid  representation  of  those  qualities  and 
characteristics  which,  above  others,  please  God  and  win  the  to- 
kens of  his  peculiar  love :  and  though  this  subhme  example  of 
heroic  faith  may  chide  our  unbelief,  and  rather  quench  than 
kindle  the  hope  of  successful  emulation,  it  is  comforting  to  know 
that  "like  precious  faith"  in  kind,  is  possessed  by  every  true 
child  of  God,  and  that  it  is  not  only  within  the  compass  of  possi- 
bility, but  plainly  within  the  range  of  our  duty  and  i)rivilege,  so 
to  have  our  faith  ^^  increased,''  that  we  shall  implicitly  believe 
every  Divine  promise,  and  bow  in  willing  obedience  to  every 
Divine  command :  and  when  this  attainment  is  made,  each  of  us 
shall  be  esteemed  and  treated,  even  if  we  are  not  "  called"  the 
''Friend  of  God.'' 

Unlike  man,  God  is  "no  respecter  of  persons."  His  friend- 
ship is  not  determined  by  considerations  of  hirth,  or  position,  or 
talents,  or  learning,  but  is  absolutely  and  in  every  case  controlled 


34  TRUTH  tN  LOVE.  [Scr. 

by  spiritual  excellence ;  and  that — thanks  be  to  his  gracious  and 
holy  name — is  within  the  reach  of  the  weakest  saint.  Trembhng, 
downcast,  sorrowful  Christian,  thou  mayest  be  as  dear  and  He  as 
close  to  the  heart  of  Infinite  Love,  as  any  who  occupy  the  high- 
est places  in  church  and  state.  Nay — what  hinders  thee  from 
resting  with  John  himself  in  the  bosom  of  Jesus?  Nothing 
hinders  thee,  but  thy  own  unbehef  and  disobedience,  for,  has  he 
not  said, — ^^If  any  man  hear  my  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will 
come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  me."*  And 
"  if  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  words,  and  my  Father  will  love 
him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him,  and  make  our  abode  with  him. 

For  any  of  us  here  present,  to  aspire  to  the  especial  friend- 
ship of  Queen  Victoria,  Louis  Napoleon,  or  some  of  those  per- 
sons who  reign  as  kings  in  the  Republic  of  letters,  besides  being 
a  piece  of  ridiculous  vanity,  would  be  to  attempt  a  simple  im- 
possibility. 

But  what  is  impossible  to  get  from  men  is  more  than  possible 
to  obtain  from  God.  It  is  not  presumption  and  folly,  but  the 
duty  and  privilege  of  every  one  of  us,  to  aspire  to  the  intimate 
acquaintance  and  eternal  friendship  of  the  Sovereign  of  all  worlds ! 
And  this,  as  we  shall  now,  secondly,  proceed  to  show,  is  a  bless- 
ing worthy  of  our  most  fervent  desires  and  highest  ambition. 

And  I  think  it  is  this  aspect  of  the  subject  which  is  most  pro- 
minently suggested  in  the  text.  It  seems  to  be  set  forth,  not 
only  or  mainly  as  the  character  of  Abraham,  but  rather  as  his 
privilege  and  distinction  that  he  was  called  ^UJie  Friend  of  God.^^ 
It  involves  much — in  fact,  comprehends  everything,  even  as  the 
promise  in  the  covenant  that  was  made  with  him — "  I  will  be  a 
God  to  thee,"  said  everything  in  a  single  word. 

1.  The  peculiar  value  and  preciousness  of  the  privilege  depend 
*  Rev.  iii.  20. 


I.]  THE  FRIEND  OP  GOD.  35 

essentially  on  the  character  of  the  being  whose  friendship  the 
Christian  enjoys. 

To  weak  and  dependent  natures  like  ours,  made  up  so  much 
of  wants,  and  sorrows,  and  sympathies,  friendship  is  quite  in- 
dispensable. Not  alone  in  the  sentiment  and  poetry  of  youthful 
minds,  but  in  soberest  reality,  human  friendship  is  felt  to  be  the 
best  of  earthly  blessings.  A  thought  more  bitter,  a  feeling  more 
oppressive,  never  passes  through  the  heart,  than  that  we  are 
without  the  love  and  sympathy  of  others !  Ethereal  and  spi- 
ritual though  it  be — rather,  just  because  it  is  so — the  sincere 
and  manifested  friendship  of  a  fellow-creature  goes  direct  to  the 
heart,  and  mightily  helps  us,  in  our  greatest  sorrows  and  hea- 
viest burdens.  At  such  an  hour  it  is  prized  more  than  gold, 
even  as  it  is  a  commodity  which  gold  cannot  buy.  Sincere  friend- 
ship is  very  precious,  whether  it  be  shown,  by  those  above,  be- 
low, or  on  an  equality  with  ourselves.  God's  friendship,  in  its 
general  nature,  resembles  that  which  mortal  men  feel  for  one 
another,  since  it  is  only  by  means  of  this  experience  which 
passes  within  our  own  bosoms,  that  we  rise  to  the  conception  of 
a  corresponding  attribute  in  the  Godhead.  But  while  this  is  so, 
the  infinite  difference  and  distance  between  God  and  men  re- 
quire that  we  should  ascribe  qualities  and  attributes  to  hisfiiend- 
sMp  as  much  superior  to  ours,  as  in  all  other  rejects,  God  is 
above  man.  Even  in  its  best  estate  human  friendship  partakes 
of  human  frailty — at  the  very  least,  it  is  always  subject  to  the 
limitations  of  human  weakness.  Man's  heart,  in  contrast  with 
God's,  is  as  a  cistern  to  the  boundless  ocean ;  and  man's  hand^ 
even  when  moved  by  warmest  friendship,  unlike  God's,  is 
"  shortened  that  it  cannot"  bestow  the  needed  benefaction :  and 
it  is  in  reference  to  the  point  now  in  hand,  that  the  High  and  Holy 
One  himself— proclaims — "My  thoughts  are  not  your  thoughts, 


36  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

— neither  are  your  ways  my  ways,  saith  the  Lord.  For  as  the 
heavens  are  higher  than  the  earth,  so  are  my  ways  higher  than 
your  ways,  and  my  thoughts  than  your  thoughts. ' ' 

There  is  not  a  single  attribute  of  friendship  in  which  God's  is 
not  infinitely  greater  and  better  than  man's.  It  is  more  true. 
He  professes  much,  and  feels  all  he  professes.  It  is  not  always 
so  with  men.  Their  protestations  of  friendship  are  sometimes 
heartless,  and  even  when  earnest,  are  apt  to  conceal  a  large  infu- 
sion of  selfishness.  Their  kind  offices  come  to  an  end  whenever 
they  cease  to  be  remunerated.  The  most  of  what  passes  current 
under  the  name  of  friendship  is  the  base  metal  of  selfishness, 
thinly  gilded  over  with  the  courtesies  of  social  life  :  and  a  true 
friend^  who  sticketh  closer  than  a  brother,  is  indeed  a  treasure, 
rare  as  he  is  precious.  Such  a  friend  is  God.  He  loves  truly, 
deeply,  tenderly,  infinitely,  and  for  ever !  The  jealousies,  and 
mutations  of  earth,  which  so  often  "separate  chief  friends, "  and 
leave  but  the  memories  of  broken  ties,  never  touch  the  relations 
of  amity  and  concord  which  Jehovah  has  established  between 
himself  and  the  people  of  his  covenant  and  his  care. 

Not  even  that  common  and  sure  destroyer  of  earthly  friend- 
ship— the  ingratitude  and  forgetfulness  of  its  objects — shall  ever 
occasion  the  end  or  abatement  of  his.  As  he  bestowed  it  at  first 
without  merit  in  its  recipients,  moved  by  his  own  compassion 
and  good  pleasure  alone,  so  for  the  same  reason  he  continues  it 
from  age  to  age,  even  "to  everlasting,"  and  one  of  its  most 
blessed  exhibitions  is  seen  in  the  patience  with  which  it  endures 
the  ungrateful  returns  we  make,  and  the  pains  it  takes  to  hold 
us  in  its  kind  embraces.  "The  mountains  shall  depart,  and  the 
hills  be  removed ;  but  my  kindness  shall  not  depart  from  thee, 
neither  shall  the  covenant  of  my  peace  be  removed,  saith  the 
Lord  that  hath  mercy  on  thee." 


I.]  THE  FRIEND   OP  001).  37 

2.  Descending  from  the  consideration  of  tlie  essential  attri- 
butes of  the  Divine  friendship,  we  find  many  elements  of  value 
and  endearment  in  its  particular  f^-uits  and  mamfestatians. 
Friendship  among  men,  imjDlies  mutual  confidence  and  confiden- 
tkd  communications.  In  proportion  to  its  depth  and  intimacy 
will  be  the  freedom  and  the  frequency  of  this  communion :  and, 
though  no  material  and  substantial  advantage  is  given  or  re- 
ceived, there  is  no  one  privilege  of  friendship  more  valued.  It 
is  the  honour  and  joy  of  the  Christian  to  be  made,  as  it  were, 
the  confidant  orGod :  "The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with  them  that 
fear  him."  And,  said  Jesus  to  his  disciples — "Henceforth  I 
call  you  not  servants,  for  the  servant  knoweth  not  what  his  lord 
doeth :  but  I  have  called  jou  friends ;  for  all  things  that  I  have 
heard  of  my  Father,  I  have  made  known  unto  you.'^ 

A  signal  example  of  this  pecuKar  phase  of  the  friendship  of 
God,  occurs  in  the  history  of  Abraham  himself.  For  the 
wickedness  of  Sodom,  the  Lord  had  determined  to  destroy  it : 
and  without  interference  or  question  from  man  or  angel,  he 
might  have  proceeded  at  once  to  execute  the  righteous  decree. 
But  he  did  not.  There  was  one  man  who  stood  in  peculiar  re- 
lation both  to  the  guilty  city  and  to  its  holy  Judge.  Him,  Je- 
hovah remembered,  and  said — "  Shall  I  hide  from  Abraham 
that  thing  which  I  do?"  The  connexion  shows  that  the  con- 
sideration which  moved  the  Lord  to  make  the  disclosure  of  his 
purpose,  existed  in  the  character  and  covenant-relation  which  the 
patriarch  sustained.  The  alliance  and  the  amity  were  too  close  to 
allow  concealment.  This  obedient  believer  must  be  apprised  of 
the  peril  which  threatened  the  city  where  Lot  his  kinsman 
dwelt.     The  sequel  of  intercession  and  deliverance  you  know. 

And  thus  the  Lord  dealeth  with  all  his  friends.  New  revela- 
tions he  may  not  give  you,  nor  disclose  unsearchable  mysteries 


38  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

in  which  you  have  no  interest,  but  his  tenderest  and  deepest 
thoughts  of  love,  he  will  reveal,  and  give  you  those  "  manifesta- 
tions" of  his  friendship  which  the  world  cannot  receive,  and,  in 
due  time,  when  you  shall  have  "  overcome"  by  the  blood  of  the 
'"Lamb,"  and  the  power  of  his  grace,  he  will  give  you  to  eat  of 
the  "  hidden  manna,"  and  entrust  to  you  "  a  white  stone,  and 
in  the  stone,  a  new  name  written  which  no  man  knoweth,  saving 
he  that  receiveth  it. ' '  So  intimately  and  profoundly  confidential 
is  the  intercourse  of  God  with  the  souls  whom  he  loves  and 
blesses  with  his  friendship. 

It  is  a  further  attribute  of  true  friendship,  and  pre-eminently 
so  of  Grod's,  that  its  attentions  and  henef actions  are  multiplied  the 
most  in  time  of  our  greatest  necessity.  The  homeliness  of  the  pro- 
verb should  not  cause  us  to  discard  it  in  this  connexion: — "A 
friend  i;i  need,  is  a  friend  indeed.^' 

This  is  the  test  of  all  profession.  The  sorrow,  the  necessity 
which  exposes  and  repels  the  false,  attracts  the  true;  and  a 
man's  real  friends,  like  the  brothers  of  his  flesh,  are  "born  for 
adversity.'"  They  fly  to  him  in  his  distress.  And  such  is  the 
friendship  of  God.  At  all  times  near,  he  is  a  ^^very  present 
help  in  trouble. ' '  Not  quite  sure  that  our  friends  may  not  re- 
gard our  drafts  on  their  kind  offices  too  heavy  or  too  frequent, 
we  study  to  avoid  the  application,  and  spare  them  as  far  as  pos- 
sible:  but  God  says,  "Call  upon  me  in  the  day  of  trouble;  I 
will  deliver  thee,  and  thou  shalt  glorify  me,"  by  seeking  my  as- 
sistance, and  relying  to  the  uttermost  on  my  salvation.  That 
was  a  true  testimony  which  Eliphaz  bore  to  the  character  of 
God,  when  seeking  to  console  the  man  of  Uz,  he  said — "Behold, 
happy  is  the  man  whom  God  correcteth ;  therefore,  despise  not 
thou  the  chastening  of  the  Almighty.  For  he  maketh  sore,  and 
bindeth  up,  he  woundeth,  and  his  hands  make  whole.     He  shall 


1.]  THE  FRIEND    OF  GOD.  30 

deliver  thee  in  six  troubles ;  yea,  in  seven,  there  shall  no  evil 
touch  thee. ' ' 

Suffer  we  may  in  the  flesh  and  in  the  spirit ;  and  our  sorrows, 
like  Job's,  while  having  their  root  in  sin,  may  have  their  com- 
mission from  G-od ;  but  they  do  not  prove  either  the  want  or 
the  weakness  of  his  love.  Eather  they  are  its  clearest  proofs 
and  dearest  pledges.  "Faithful  are  the  wounds  of  a.  friend.'' 
Those  are  our  best  friends,  and  should  be  so  esteemed,  who 
labour  with  humility  and  charity  to  correct  our  faults  and  im- 
prove our  character.  There  are  hundreds  of  persons  who  would 
rather  give  us  money,  or  visit  us  in  affliction,  or  weep  with  us 
in  bereavement,  than  utter  one  humble,  kind,  faithful  word  for 
such  a  purpose  as  this.  Only  the  truest  and  best  of  friends  can 
do  it.  Harsh  and  proud  complaints  are  plentiful ;  tender  admo- 
nitions are  rare,  and  are  often  the  greatest  favour  which  it  is 
possible  to  confer.  And  in  this  matter  we  should  judge  of  God 
as  we  do  of  one  another.  The  smarting  rod  and  the  soothing 
whispers  of  his  Spirit  are  expressions  of  the  same  love,  and 
there  is  not  a  whit  less  of  friendship  in  the  one  than  in  the 
other. 

Friendship  delights  to  increase  the  happiness  by  promoting  the 
advantage  and  honour  of  its  objects. 

A  person  in  the  possession  of  riches  and  the  enjoyment  of 
place  and  power,  is  accustomed  and  expected  to  provide  for  Ms 
friends.  He  secures  them  positions,  and  exerts  his  influence  to 
advance  their  interests.  The  friendship  of  God  reveals  itself  in 
similar  manifestations;  and  in  view  of  his  resources  and  his 
poiver,  what  may  we  not  expect?  What  he  has  to  give,  that 
he  mil  give— the  adoption  of  sons— the  inheritance  of  heirs— 
the  honour  and  elevation  of  kings  and  priests.  Now,  for  their 
own  good,  and  because  the  purposes  of  God  toward  the  world 


40  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

require  it,  they  are  kept  under  tutors  and  governors,  and  ap- 
pointed to  live  in  obscurity.  But  a  day  is  ordained  and  hasten- 
ing on  for  their  glorious  manifestation.  Then  he  will  publicly 
own  them  as  his  friends — ^will  call  them  his  "jewels" — and  will 
satisfy  his  own  love  and  theirs  by  taking  them  to  his  bosom 
for  ever.  With  the  friendship  of  God,  now  and  to  all  eternity, 
what  more  does  the  Christian  need?  Beloved,  rest  satisfied 
with  your  portion.  Why  lament  the  loss  of  a  drop,  when  the 
ocean  of  God's  unchangeable  and  infinite  love  remains?  If  you 
had  not  another  friend  in  the  universe.  He  is  enough.  "Whom 
have  I  in  heaven  but  thee  ?  and  there  is  none  upon  earth  that  1 
desire  besides  thee.  My  flesh  and  my  heart  faileth :  but  God  is 
the  strength  of  my  heart,  and  my  portion  for  ever. ' ' 

It  is  sad  to  think  and  say  that  the  relations  existing  between 
some  of  us  and  God  are  not  those  of  friendship.  It  is  beyond 
contradiction  that  some  of  you  de  aot  act  a  friendly  part  toward 
God.  You  spurn  his  authoHty — yot.  «lisobey  his  commands — ^you 
refuse  his  salvation. 

In  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  this  open  hostility  betrays 
an  unfriendly  heart :  and  so  far  from  being  God's  friends,  you 
are  his  ''^  enemies  f^  and  so  he  accounts  and  calls  you.  This 
wicked  enmity  of  yours  to  God  necessitates  on  his  part  a  holy 
opposition  to  you :  and,  in  this  respect,  so  far  from  being  your 
friend.^  he  is  your  adversai^. 

But  notwithstanding  this,  he  is  willing  to  be  reconciled;  and 
with  an  ambassage  of  peace  I  am  now  come  to  you.  "Now, 
then,  we  are  ambassadors  for  Christ,  as  though  God  did  beseech 
you  by  ii- :  we  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to 
God."  "Acquaint  now  thyself  with  him,  and  be  at  peace: 
thereby  good  shall  come  unto  thee." 


11.  I  THE  LESSONS  OF  THE  FLOWERS.  41 


SERMON  II. 

THE  LESSONS  OF  THE  FLOWERS. 

Luke  xii.  27. — Coimder  the  Jjilies. 

Some  men  walk  through  the  world  with  eyes  shut,  seeing 
nothing  and  learning  nothing.  Persons,  things,  events  with 
which  they  come  in  contact,  are  not  studied — are  hardly  con- 
ceived of  with  any  distinctness,  and  are,  of  course,  forgotten. 
Others,  from  natural  aptitude  and  from  habit,  not  only  see,  but 
observe  what  passes.  They  note  the  causes  and  the  consequences, 
the  peculiarities  and  the  relations  of  actions  and  events,  and 
acquire  a  fund  of  practical  philosophy,  which  is  of  the  highest 
value  in  the  affairs  of  life.  That  which  is  thus  seen  to  be  our 
wisdom,  in  relation  to  the  interests  of  earth,  becomes,  in  the 
higher  sphere  of  religion,  a  duty. 

Grod  reveals  himself  in  the  books  of  Nature  and  of  Revelation, 
and  the  same  Divine  Messenger  who  bids  us  ' '  Search  the  Scrip- 
tures, ' '  gives  this  other  command — ' '  Consider  the  lilies. ' '  These 
books  are  emanations  from  the  same  source — rays  from  the  same 
sun — and  if  one  shines  with  a  fuller  blaze,  it  is  no  reason  why 
the  mild  radiance  or  the  single  beam  of  the  other  should  be  des- 
pised. "There  is  one  glory  of  the  sun,  and  another  glory  of 
the  moon,  and  another  glory  of  the  stars,"  but  all  alike  borrow 
their  glory  from  the  "  Father  of  lights." 


42  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Sci*. 

Inviting  us  to  study  the  lilies,  the  Saviour  only  makes  a  spe- 
cial application  of  the  general  duty  of  considering  the  works  of 
Crod.  It  is  an  act  of  piety,  and  a  source  of  pure  delight.  "The 
works  of  the  Lord  are  great ;  sought  out  of  all  them  that  have 
pleasure  therein. ' '  The  consideration  of  them  which  is  incul- 
cated in  Scripture,  is  an  exercise  of  devout  meditation,  which 
beholds  God  in  his  works,  sees  the  Creator  in  the  creature,  and 
rises  through  the  visible  and  the  material,  up  to  the  unseen, 
the  spiritual  and  the  eternal. 

Many  consider  the  works  of  God  in  another  manner,  and»for  a 
different  purpose.  The  man  of  science  studies  nature  not  as  the 
workmanship  of  God,  but  precisely  as  a  mechanic  would  study  a 
curious  machine  which  the  hand  of  man  had  constructed,  or  as 
an  artist  would  view  a  piece  of  statuary  which  human  genius  and 
skill  had  conceived  and  chiseled.  Such  a  man  sees  nothing  but 
matter  and  its  laws ;  and  instead  of  ascending  through  nature 
up  to  nature's  God,  many  a  naturalist  loses  himself  in  the  laby- 
rinth of  that  Divine  mechanism  which  needs  only  the  recognition 
of  a  living  and  personal  Creator  to  reduce  it  all  to  perfect  unity 
and  order,  and  to  make  it  radiant  with  the  beauty  of  the  Lord. 

There  is  certainly  no  inconsistency  between  the  scientific  study 
of  nature,  and  the  exercise  of  faith  and  devotion.  The  natural 
sciences,  as  Botany,  Geology,  and  Astronomy,  furnish  number- 
less and  obvious  proofs  of  creative  power,  and  skill,  and  good- 
ness ;  and  nothing  can  account  for  the  fact  that  the  student  of 
Nature  fails  to  recognize  and  worship  God,  but  that  the  human 
soul  is  "out  of  chord"  with  the  harmonies  of  the  universe. 
The  study  of  nature  tends  to  piety,  and  the  Scriptures  invite  to 
it.  The  man  of  deepest  learning  and  widest  acquaintance  with 
the  works  of  God  will,  most  likely,  believe  the  teachings  of 
Scrii:)ture,  because  he  sees  the  harmony  of  nature  and  revelation. 


II.]  THE  LESSONS  OF  THE  FLOWERS.  43 

Professor  Henry  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  is  reported  to 
have  said  that  he  knew  but  one  thoroughly  scientific  man  in  the 
United  States,  who  was  an  avowed  Infidel.  "An  undcvout  as- 
tronomer is  mad."  The  man  of  sound  mind  and  of  right  heart 
will  rather  exclaim  with  the  Shepherd  of  Bethlehem— "  When 
I  consider  thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers ;  the  moon  and 
the  stars,  which  thou  hast  ordained;  what  is  man,  that  thou 
art  mindful  of  him?  0  Lord,  our  Lord,  how  excellent  is  thy 
name  in  all  the  earth !" 

While  this  transition  from  the  study  of  nature  as  a  Science,  to 
the  religious  consideration  of  it,  as  a  manifestation  of  God,  is 
easy  and  natural,  it  is  not  necessary ;  and  we  advert  to  the  differ- 
ence, just  to  mark  the  various  grades  of  interest  and  points  of 
view  from  which  men  look,  in  studying  the  works  of  Grod.  In 
some  respects,  the  scientific  study  is  the  lowest.  Next  above  this, 
is  that  admiration  and  enjoyment  of  nature  which  is  experienced 
by  persons  endowed  with  poetic  sensibility,  and  indeed  by  almost 
all  persons  at  some  period  and  in  some  circumstances  of  their 
lives.  The  dullest  eye  will  brighten,  and  the  coldest  heart 
awake  from  its  torpor,  and  rise  from  the  routine  of  its  common- 
places, when  the  beautiful,  the  grand,  the  majestic,  or  the  terri- 
ble in  nature  is  suddenly  presented :  and  some  minds  of  exqui- 
site sensibihty  will  dwell  on  scenes  of  material  loveliness  and 
splendour,  with  a  tenderness  of  feeling,  and  a  mysterious  depth 
of  emotion,  and  with  blending  and  changing  shades  of  thought, 
which  no  language,  not  even  the  dialect  of  loftiest  poetry  can  ex- 
press. The  soul's  response  and  sympathy  in  thus  communing 
with  nature  in  her  varied  forms  of  mild  beauty,  and  majestic 
greatness,  and  terrible  grandeur,  bears  a  certain  resemblance  to 
piety  and  worship  ;  and  we  admit  that  it  is  far  higher  and  purer 
and  more  ennobling  to  the  spirit,  than  the  lower  studies  of  na- 


44  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

tural  science,  which  analyzes  nature,  and  exhibits  the  bony  ske- 
leton of  her  naked  laws ;  and  which  does  even  this  for  the  mate- 
rial uses  to  which  her  laws  and  forces  may  be  applied.  But  we 
must  remind  you  that  admiration  of  nature  is  a  very  different 
thing  from  adoring  the  God  of  nature.  Dissevering  the  crea- 
ture from  the  Creator,  it  is,  at  the  best,  a  species  of  refined  ido- 
latry, which,  like  the  ancient  heathenism,  burns  incense  to  the  gods 
of  the  mountains  and  the  valleys,  the  groves  and  the  streams,  and 
adores  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  stars,  rather  than  the  eter- 
nal and  invisible  Grod,  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in 
them  all.  In  point  of  historical  fact,  idolatry  had  this  precise 
origin.  Not  hking  to  retain  the  knowledge  of  a  holy  and  per- 
sonal Grod,  the  Ruler  and  Judge  of  men,  and  yet  not  able,  and 
perhaps  not  willing,  to  relinquish  all  conception  and  belief  of  a 
Deity,  men  hegan  by  substituting  for  the  invisible  divinity,  the 
greatest  and  most  beneficent  of  his  works,  and  ended  the  back- 
ward and  downward  movement,  by  worshipping  "four-footed 
beasts,  and  creeping  things. ' '  It  would  thus  appear  that  the 
admiration  and  enjoyment  of  nature  is  not  necessarily  a  religious 
sentiment :  and  those  dreaming  spirits  deceive  themselves,  who 
put  the  excitement  of  their  natural  sensibilities  in  the  stead  of 
that  devotion  which  makes  the  beautiful  and  the  grand  in  na- 
ture mere  stepping-stones  for  its  ascent  to  the  throne  of  Grod. 
The  study  of  nature,  to  which  the  Saviour  invites  us,  has  express 
regard  to  the  relation  which  all  material  things  sustain  to  the 
Author  of  nature.  The  study  of  the  lily  as  it  is  in  itself^  is  bo- 
tany ;  the  study  of  it  as  it  stands  related  on  the  one  side  to  God^ 
who  made  it,  and  on  the  other  to  man,  for  whom  it  is  made,  is 
natural  theology.  ' '  Consider  the  lilies, ' '  not  for  the  beauty  they 
possess,  but  for  that  beauty  as  an  adornment  given  them  by  a 
Divine  hand.     It  is  God  who  ^'' so  clothes  the  lilies."     Hence 


11.  ]  THE  LESSONS  OF  THE  FLOWERS.  45 

their  capacity  and  power  to  become  our  teachers.  It  is  relation- 
ship to  God  that  gives  everything  its  meaning,  and  from  this 
point  of  view  must  its  significance  and  purpose  be  studied. 

Descending  from  these  generahties,  we  may  remark  the  ex- 
quisite finish  and  perfection  of  the  lily.  The  Scriptures  tell  us 
that  the  Son  of  God,  who  bids  us  consider  the  lilies,  is  their 
Maker.  He  is  more  than  willing  that  his  work  should  be  scru- 
tinized. It  will  bear  inspection,  and  the  severest  test  which 
even  the  microscope  applies  reveals  no  fault  nor  coarseness  in 
the  Divine  workmanship.  Not  so  with  the  creations  of  human 
skill !  The  most  perfect  thing  which  man  ever  made  was  not 
absolutely  faultless.  No  book  that  was  ever  wi-itten,  no  picture 
ever  painted,  no  house  ever  built,  was  in  every  minutest  par- 
ticular above  criticism.  The  limitation  and  weakness  of  the  crea- 
ture is  impressed  on  all  that  man  does :  and  in  like  manner  the 
signature  of  an  infinitely  wise  and  Almighty  God  is  written  on 
all  his  works,  the  least  not  less  than  the  greatest.  ".As  for 
God,  his  work  is  perfect."  "Nothing  can  be  put  to  it,  nor 
anything  taken  from  it ;  and  God  doeth  it  that  men  should  fear 
before  him. ' '  There  are  not,  in  all  the  universe,  any  unfinished 
works  of  God,  nor  any  abandoned  relics  of  experiments  that  did 
not  succeed,  nor  is  there  any  single  thing  which  develops  accord- 
ing to  the  law  impressed  by  him,  that  is  not  perfect  in  its  kind. 
The  infinite  and  unapproachable  godhead  of  the  Creator  is  seen 
in  the  absolute  completeness  and  perfection  of  his  works.  Not 
only  cannot  men  suggest  any  improvement  in  anything  he  has 
made,  but  the  highest  achievements  of  their  genius  and  art  con- 
sist in  a  feeble  imitation  of  the  Divine  patterns  which  are  set 
before  them  in  nature.  How  impotent  is  man  to  create  a  lily ! 
What  a  botch  is  his  best  imitation  !  Without  life,  without  fra- 
grance, without  growth.     So  true  is  the  poet's  lines — 


46  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

^  "  There's  not  a  flower 

But  shows,  in  freckle,  streak,  or  stain,  the  marks 
Of  his  unrivalled  pencil." 

Coming  nearer  to  the  specific  theme  of  the  text,  we  may 
' '  Consider  the  HHes' '  as  Jiowas,  and  gather  the  lessons  taught 
by  their  exquisite  beauty.  It  is  an  obvious  though  very  impor- 
tant remark  of  Dr.  Paley,  that  Grod  might  have  made  this  world 
far  different  from  what  it  is,  and  yet  made  it  good  enough  to 
support  the  human  race  in  mere  existence.  Every  touch  might 
have  been  a  sting,  every  sound  a  discord,  and  yet  men  might 
have  existed.  In  that  case,  natural  theology  would  have  given 
us  little  or  no  proof  of  the  Divine  benevolence.  But  how  differ- 
ent is  the  world  in  point  of  fact ! 

Beyond  what  is  necessary,  Grod  has  given  what  is  comfortable  ; 
and  above  what  is  comfortable,  he  has  added  that  which  deco- 
rates the  world  and  gratifies  that  sense  of  the  beautiful  which 
he  has  inwrought  with  our  mental  constitution.  How  pure  this 
pleasure  is,  and  how  linked  with  our  proper  nature,  is  shown  by 
the  fact,  that  when  Grod  had  made  man  in  his  own  image,  he 
placed  him  in  a  garden  of  material  delights,  where  was  found 
not  only  every  tree  that  was  good  for  food,  but  such  as  were 
' '  pleasant  to  the  eye. ' '  Eden  was  decked  with  flowers,  and  when 
the  sinless  pair  walked  amid  its  aromatic  groves,  and  regaled 
their  senses  with  the  fragrance  they  diffused,  the  incense  of 
their  devotions  went  up  with  more  buoyant  joy  and  holier  grati- 
tude. Our  minds  are  familiarized  with  the  argument  for  the 
Being  and  Character  of  God,  which  is  derived  from  the  palpable 
uses  which  are  accomplished  by  the  objects  and  the  order  of  na- 
ture. The  goodness  of  God  in  the  shining  sun,  and  the  falling 
rain,  and  the  flowing  river,  and  the  changing  seasons,  is  recog- 


11.  ]  THE  LESSONS  OF  THE  FLOWERS.  47 

nized  because  it  is  so  obvious.  Not  happiness  alone,  but  life 
deiDonds  on  these  benign  arrangements. 

The  use  of  the  beautiful,  which  the  Divine  Architect  has  la- 
vished on  all  his  works,  is  not  so  manifest  and  obtrusive ;  it  is 
more  spiritual  and  subtle :  yet  who  can  for  a  moment  doubt  that 
the  very  same  wisdom  and  love  which  placed  the  burning  and 
glorious  sun  in  the  firmament  are  concerned  in  the  creation  of 
every  insect  that  basks  in  his  beams,  and  every  flower  that  un- 
folds its  petals  to  his  light? 

What,  then,  are  the  divine  lessons  that  we  read  in  the  beauty 
of  the  lily?  And  first  of  all,  the  inquiry  starts,  does  it  teach  us 
aught  of  the  nature  and  character  of  Grod  as  he  is  in  himself? 
Why  does  beauty  emanate  from  God?  Is  it  not  because  the  ar- 
chetype and  ideal  of  beauty  is  in  his  own  eternal  mind?  And 
all  the  material  loveliness  of  the-  universe  is  but  the  efflux  of 
what,  from  everlasting,  was  in  the  Creator.  From  the  fact  that 
God  created  man  in  his  own  pure  image,  we  justly  infer  that  he 
loves,  and,  to  speak  as  men,  admires  the  beauty  of  holiness : 
and  may  we  not,  by  the  self-same  logic,  reverently  adopt  the 
conclusion  that  the  Maker  of  the  flowers  admires  the  beautiful 
creation  of  his  own  hanas? 

If  any  feel  as  if  this  were  treading  on  questionable  ground,  we 
will  not  press  the  suggestion,  and  proceed  to  another  in  which 
all  will  agree  :  The  beauty  of  the  lilies,  and  of  all  the  floral  king- 
dom, and  indeed,  of  all  the  visible  creation,  is  an  evidence  of 
God' s  paternal  kindness,  and  of  his  desire  that  his  creatures  should 
have  a  happy  and  delighted  existence. 

The  beauty  of  nature  makes  a  large  contribution  to  the  sum 
of  our  enjoyment,  and  would  make  more,  if  we  entered  more 
fully  into  the  design  of  God.  The  lowest  view  of  this  argument 
is  that  which  has  respect  to  the  mere  r/rati/icati/)n  of  sense  which 


48  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Scr. 

is  derived  from  the  fragrant  odour  and  stainless  beauty  of  the 
flowers.  This  dehghted  sensation  is  of  no  small  value  as  an  ar- 
gument for  the  Divine  benevolence,  when  it  is  considered  how 
easy  it  would  have  been  to  Almighty  power  to  have  left  all  na- 
ture bare  and  barren  of  these  adornments,  and  to  have  doomed 
us  to  pass  through  life  without  ever  being  permitted  to  gaze  on 
the  beauty  or  to  inhale  the  scent  of  flowers.  If  no  higher  use 
were  assigned  them,  the  hlies  were  not  made  in  vain.  But  have 
they  not  a  nobler  ministry,  and  are  they  not  capable  of  impart- 
ing a  higher  good  than  the  momentary  sensation  they  excite  ? 
In  the  absence  of  express  revelation  on  the  subject,  we  infer  the 
use  for  which  anything  is  made  from  its  nature  and  adaptations. 
For  what  use  the  fields  wave  with  yellow  grain,  and  the  giant 
oak  bares  its  head  in  the  forest,  and  the  orchards  bend  with 
luscious  fruit,  we  know  from  the  Jitness  of  each  and  all.  And  in 
like  manner  we  may  know  from  their  natural  adaptation  as  well 
as  from  their  experienced  eff"ect,  for  what  end  God  has  garnished 
the  earth  with  flowers.  Through  that  sense  of  the  beautiful 
which  he  has  given  us,  they  speak  to  the  heart,  and  have  a  pe- 
culiar power  over  the  affections.  Is  there  not  a  profound  con- 
nexion between  the  beautiful  in  nature,  and  the  beautiful  in 
manners,  and  in  morality,  yea,  and  the  higher  beauty  of  holiness  ? 
Does  not  the  fragile  nature  and  texture  of  the  lily,  the  grace 
of  whose  fashion  perishes  in  a  day,  and  cannot  bear  the  touch  of 
rudeness,  directly  teach  us  the  lesson  of  gentleness  f  and  its  robe 
of  stainless  white,  the  lesson  of  purity?  With  their  meek 
modesty  and  quiet  loveliness,  flowers  seem  in  natural  afiinity  with 
"whatsoever  things  are  pure  and  lovely,  and  of  good  report," 
and  the  "fruit  of  the  Spirit  which  is  love,  joy,  and  peace," 
might  be  thought  to  flourish  best,  in  those  whose  hearts  are  in 
unison  with  their  sweet  influences  and  suggestions. 


IT.]  THE  LESSONS  OF  THE  FLOWERS.  49 

III  a  word,  flowers  are  clotlied  with  a  moral  power,  and  are 
appointed  to  a  humble  ministry  to  our  intellectual  and  spiritual 
nature. 

This  point  is  so  admirably  put  by  another,  that  you  will  more 
than  pardon  the  quotation  of  his  eloquent  words:  "Here  is 
more  than  infinite  skill.  Here  is  a  moral  poioer.  Here  is  an 
appeal  to  the  most  delicate  susceptibilities  of  my  soul.  Here  is 
a  voice  to  my  heart.  As  adjuncts,  and  scarlet-robed  attendants 
of  religion,  these  things  are  adapted  to  elevate  my  affections,  and 
to  educate  my  nature  for  the  scenery  of  heaven.  Let  none  mis- 
understand :  nature  is  not  revelation :  beauty  is  not  piety ;  taste 
is  not  holiness.  Let  India,  and  South  America,  and  Bishop  He- 
ber  witness  to  this : — 

"  What  though  the  spicy  breezes 
Blow  soft  o'er  Ceylon's  isle, 
Though  every  prospect  pleases. 
And  only  man  is  vile  ?" 

Still  I  do  affirm  that  the  ministry  of  the  beautiful  is  a  reality ; 
flowers  have  a  mission,  and  the  lesson  of  the  lilies  is  one  which 
Christian  hearts  will  always  love  to  study."* 

The  force  of  this  argument  is  enhanced  by  the  consideration 
that  man  has  lost  the  primeval  holiness  in  which  he  was  created, 
and  has  been  driven  from  the  Paradise  in  which  he  was  placed. 

For  his  sake  the  world  was  cursed,  so  that  it  should  bring  forth 
thorns  and  briers,  the  remembrancers  of  his  sin,  to  pain  and 
trouble  him.  But  surely,  it  is  a  significant  fact,  and  not  without 
the  germ  of  a  blessed  hope,  that  the  earth  on  the  face  of  which 
he  was  sent  abroad  was  not  so  blasted  with  the  curse  of  Heaven, 
that  its  every  aspect  should  frown  the  wrath  of  God  upon  him, 
and  sink  him  in  despair.  If  Paradise  were  never  to  be  regained, 
the  cherubim  with  flaming  sword  might  have  been  seen  in  every 

*  Rev.  F.  G.  Clark,  of  New  York. 
5 


50  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

object  that  met  tlie  eye  :  but  instead  of  this,  what  do  we  behold  ? 
The  flowers  bloom  on  every  field,  and  by  every  dwelling,  and 
even  "waste  tKeir  sweetness  on  the  desert  air,"  where  not  even 
the  wandering  Arab  inhales  their  fragrance,  or  observes  their 
beauty.  The  roses  bloom  amid  the  very  thorns  that  sting  us 
while  we  gather  them  ;  and  what  is  the  significance  of  this  ?  Is 
it  not  that  the  earth  is  not  irredeemably  cursed  ?  and  that  man 
is  not  abandoned  of  God,  but  is  dealt  with  in  a  way  of  mercy  for 
his  recovery ;  and  this,  moreover,  by  the  ministry  of  ten  thou- 
sand agencies,  from  the  mighty  angels  who  camp  around  the  just, 
to  the  lily  of  the  field,  which  breathes  to-day  its  gentle  lesson, 
and  to-morrow  fades  for  ever  ? 

That  flowers  do  sustain  such  relations  and  fulfil  such  a  minis- 
try to  the  spiritual  nature  of  man,  is  in  agreement  with  the  typi- 
cal significance  ascribed  to  them  in  the  word  of  God.  They  are 
fit  types  of  moral  beauty  and  Divine  grace^  and  are  so  used  by 
the  Spirit  of  inspiration.  The  first  and  highest  use  of  the  lHy, 
is  to  image  the  beauty,  and  glory,  and  fragrant  grace  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who,  in  the  gorgeous  symbolism  of  that 
Song  of  songs,  declares — ' '  I  am  the  Rose  of  Sharon,  and  the 
Lily  of  the  Valley." 

The  image  is  infinitely  below  the  glorious  original;  j^et,  ad- 
dressed as  it  is  to  sense  and  to  our  inner  sense  of  the  beautiful, 
it  conveys  a  vivid  conception  of  Him  whose  name  is  as  ointment 
poured  forth.  Portraying,  in  a  special  aspect,  the  character  of 
the  Divine  pattern  to  which  all  Christians  are  conformed,  the 
lily  is  also  a  scriptural  emblem  of  the  church.  Believers  have 
the  same  mind  which  was  also  in  Him,  and  hence,  "to  express 
their  residence  in  the  world,  and  how  he  values  them  above 
others,"  he  says—"  As  the  lily  among  thorns,  so  is  my  love 
among  the  daughters. ' ' 


n.]  THE  LESSONS   OF  THE  FLOWERS.  51 

And  there  is  yet  another  relation  in  wliicli  tliej^  stand  to  Jesus. 
It  is  expressed  in  the  words  of  his  admiring  Bride,  the  church : 
"My  Beloved  is  gone  down  into  his  garden,  to  the  beds  of 
spices,  to  feed  in  the  gardens,  and  to  gather  lilies. ' '  What  can 
this  be?  The  owner  of  a  flower-garden  cultivates  it  for  him- 
self; he  goes  into  it  to  inhale  its  sweet  odours,  and  if  he  plucks 
a  lily,  it  is  to  bring  it  nearer  to  himself,  to  carry  it  with  him, 
and,  perhaps,  to  weave  it  into  a  coronal  of  beauty,  that,  in  its 
new  setting,  it  may  be  the  more  admired  and  the  more  enjoyed. 
You  can  interpret  the  j^arable. 

The  Saviour  came  into  his  garden  when  he  entered  the  con- 
gregation of  his  saints  and  the  families  of  his  redeemed,  and 
took  to  himself  at  one  time  the  buds  of  promise  which  had  en- 
shrined themselves  in  our  affections ;  and  again,  those  expanded 
flowers  which  had  fulfilled  their  mission  below,  and  were  ready 
to  be  transferred  to  the  brighter  skies  and  balmier  air  where 
they  might  bloom  for  ever.  Murmur  not :  He  took  them,  whose 
they  are,  and  he  will  restore  them  when  he  comes  to  garner  the 
ripe  harvest  of  the  world.  Then  every  flower  that  ever  bloomed 
in  the  garden  of  his  grace  below,  will  find  its  appropriate  place 
and  use  in  the  Paradise  above.  And  this  reminds  us  that 
heaven  is  pictured  as  a  place  of  surpassing  beauty,  through 
whose  broad  avenues  there  flows  the  crystal  river,  on  whose 
banks  grows  the  tree  of  life,  which  yieldeth  her  fruit  every 
month,  and  whose  leaves  are  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 
An  Eden  of  sensible  delights,  and  much  less  a  Mohammedan  or 
Pagan  Elysium  of  carnal  lusts,  is  not  the  heaven  prepared  for 
the  redeemed  who  shall  follow  the  Lamb  on  the  celestial  plains : 
yet  it  is  certain  that  in  that  glorious  world  the  redeemed  from 
among  men  will  be  clothed  with  bodies,  and  their  dwelling  will 
be  a  place ;  and  why  should  we  doubt  that  their  sense  of  the 


52  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

heautiful^  which  Grod  now  cultivates  and  makes  an  instrument 
of  their  renewal,  will  find  its  perfect  and  ceaseless  gratification 
in  the  material  glory  and  loveliness  of  their  eternal  abode  ? 

There  yet  remains  to  be  noticed  the  lesson  which  the  Saviour 
deduces.  It  is,  in  appearance  at  least,  more  obvious  and  prac- 
tical than  those  of  which  we  have  been  treating,  though  not 
more  true  and  real.  It  is  the  lesson  of  a  peaceful  and  perfect 
trust  in  the  providential  care  of  Grod.  To  learn  this  lesson, 
' '  Consider  the  lilies ;  how  they  grow :  they  toil  not,  they  spin 
not,  and  yet  I  say  unto  you,  that  Solomon,  in  all  his  glory,  was 
not  arrayed  like  one  of  these. "  This  is  the  premise  of  the  argu- 
ment. The  lily's  peerless  beauty  and  unapproachable  superi- 
ority to  all  the  adornments  of  art,  is  a  fact  which  all  may  ob- 
serve, and,  no  doubt,  had  been  observed  a  thousand  times :  but 
the  inference  remained  to  be  drawn  by  Him  who  came  to  inter- 
pret at  once  both  Nature  and  the  God  of  Nature.  The  logic  is 
irresistible.  The  reasoning  is  what  books  on  logic  call  the  argu- 
ment a  fortiori.  It  is  reasoning  from  the  stronger  to  the  weaker 
case.  If,  in  a  given  case,  a  thing  which  is  difiicult  and  unlikely 
to  happen  has  been  done,  much  more,  in  the  same  circumstances, 
will  that  which  is  easy  and  probable  take  place.  It  is  the  argu- 
ment which  Paul  uses  to  assure  the  justified  sinner  of  salvation, 
when  he  says,  "  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered 
him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely  give  us 
all  things?" 

Thus  in  the  context,  the  Saviour  reasons  in  reference  to  God's 
providential  care  of  men :  "If  then  God  so  clothe  the  grass, 
which  is  to-day  in  the  field,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven ; 
ho2o  much  more  will  he  clothe  you,  0  ye  of  little  fiiith  ! ' '  Rea- 
son cannot  resist  the  argument,  and  if  our  hearts  were  not  filled 
with  earthliness  and  unbelief,  such  a  demonstration  and  assur- 


11. ]  THE  LESSONS  OF  THE  FLOWERS.  53 

ance  of  the  paternal  care  of  God,  would  quiet  every  anxiety,  and 
keep  our  souls  in  perfect  peace.  Are  not  ye  of  more  value  tlian 
the  fading  flower?  If  Grod,  in  the  lavish  expenditure  of  his  re- 
sources and  his  skill,  arrays  it  in  tints  of  divinest  beauty,  will  he 
deny  to  those  who  trust  in  him,  the  raiment  that  they  need  ?  Ye  care- 
worn souls,  who  destroy  your  own  peace,  and  dishonour  your 
God,  by  useless  and  unchristian  anxieties, — "Consider  the 
lihes,"  and  let  them  preach  to  you  the  blessed  lesson  of  trust  in 
the  providential  government  and  fatherly  love  of  God.  Im- 
portant at  all  times,  the  lesson  is  especially  needed  now^  when 
the  foundations  of  society  are  shaking,  and  men  are  tempted  to 
even  more  than  common  worldhness  of  spirit,  and  distrust  of 
Heaven.  Cast  the  burden  of  your  care  on  him  who  careth  for 
you,  that  your  heart  may  be  light  and  free  for  his  service  in  the 
things  which  pertain  to  the  immortal  soul,  and  the  life  ever- 
lasting. 

"  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his  righteousness, 
and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you."  Matt, 
vi.  33. 

The  general  subject  before  us,  opens  a  field  of  delightful  me- 
ditation to  the  devout  and  thoughtful.  It  teaches  us  how  to 
read  the  volume  of  that  revelation  which  the  invisible  God  has 
unrolled  in  nature,  and  shows  us  how  to  find  treasures  of  wis- 
dom and  fountains  of  pleasure,  and  means  of  moral  improve- 
ment in  every  creature  that  God  hath  made.  Without  either 
the  telescope  or  the  microscope,  the  naked  eye  and  the  unscien- 
tific mind  has  access  to  a  world  of  wonders  which  proclaim  the 
Creator's  eternal  power  and  goodness. 

And  the  general  reason  is,  that  we  should  school  ourselves  to 
study  God  in  nature.  Then  the  brightness  of  every  flower,  and 
the  carol  of  every  bird,  and  the  murmur  of  every  brook,  and  the 


5 


* 


54  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

deep  blue  sky  over-arching  all,  will  speak  to  us  o.f  truth  and 
piety,  of  Grod  and  heaven,  and  help  the  soul  in  its  aspirings  to  a 
nobler  and  better  life. 

And  let  me  say  to  our  friends  who  have  not  yet  ' '  received  the 
atonement, ' '  nor  known  by  sweet  experience  the  blessedness  of 
reconciliation  with  God,  that  the  highest  and  best  enjoyment  of 
nature  is  possible  only  to  those  who  know  and  love  its  Divine 
author.  To  them  it  is  said,  "All  things  are  yours:"  and 
' '  Blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth. ' ' 

To  the  man  of  clean  hands,  and  of  a  pure  conscience,  and  of  a 
heavenly  hope,  all  creation  shows  the  beauty  of  the  Lord : 
and  every  natural  object  whispers  peace.  He  sees  and  enjoys 
Grod  in  nature. 

"His  are  the  mountains,  and  the  valleys  his, 
And  the  resplendent  rivers,  his  to  enjoy, 
With  a  propriety  that  none  can  feel. 
But  who,  with  filial  confidence  inspired, 
Can  lift  to  heaven  an  unpresumptuous  eye, 
And  smiling  say, — <  My  Father  made  them  all  ?'  " 

Be  thou  reconciled  to  Grod.  Become  a  new  creature  in  Christ 
Jesus,  and  when  old  things  shall  pass  away,  and  all  things  be- 
come new,  the  world  itself  will  seem  a  new  creation,  and  you  will 
.have  an  earnest  of  what  awaits  the  regenerated  church,  in  ' '  the 
new  heavens  and  the  new  earth." 


III.]  ORPAH  AND  RUTH.  55 


SERMON     III. 

ORPAH  AND  RUTH. 

Ruth  i.  14. — And  Orpah  hissed  het^  mothei'-in-Iaw,  hut  Ruth 
clave  unto  her. 

There  is  very  much  in  the  character  and  position  of  this  Httle 
group,  which  appeals  to  the  softer  sensibihties  of  the  heart. 

They  had  been  together  in  seasons  of  joy,  and  had  all  drunk 
of  the  same  bitter  cup  of  affliction.  Each  of  them  had  for  a 
limited  period  discharged  the  duties,  and  enjoyed  the  pleasures 
of  married  life :  and  each  in  her  turn  had  felt  the  heart-crush- 
ing agony  of  bereavement. 

One  of  them,  advanced  in  life,  was — in  the  sense  of  Paul's 
words,  "a  widow  indeed,"  and  "desolate," — trusting  in  God, 
and  continuing  in  prayers  and  supplications  night  and  day. 

The  other  two  were  young.  Though  their  earthly  prospects 
had  been  prematurely  blasted,  they  might  hope  to  live  for  many 
years ;  and  at  this  point  of  time,  might  be  regarded  as  starting 
out  anew  on  their  journey  of  life ;  and  the  circumstances  in 
which  they  were  now  placed,  were  of  such  a  nature  as  to  impart 
to  their  action  in  the  premises  very  great  importance,  and  a  de- 
cisive bearing  on  both  their  temporal  and  spiritual  interests.  It 
was,  in  fact,  a  ci'isis,  from  which  an  immortal  career  was  to  take 
its  point  of  departure.     The  question  which  these  two  young 


56  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

women  were  then  to  decide,  and  which  there  is  every  reason  to 
beheve,  they  did  decide,  was  not  that  of  a  continued  residence 
in  the  country  of  Moah,  the  land  of  their  nativity,  or  an  emigra- 
tion to  the  land  of  Israel.  It  was  infinitely  more  profound  and 
far-reaching.  Essentially  and  really  it  was  the  question  of  their 
translation  out  of  the  kingdom  of  darkness  into  the  kingdom  of 
God — the  same  which  meets  every  one  of  us  as  we  journey 
through  life,  and  which  sooner  or  later  is  decided  by  us  all,  to 
our  eternal  joy  or  grief. — Shall  I  yield  to  the  dictates  of  con- 
science, and  the  calls  of  Grod ;  cast  in  my  lot  with  his  people,  and 
take  his  favour  for  my  portion? 

The  different  ways  in  which  this  question  is  disposed  of,  are 
palpably  exhibited  in  the  conduct  of  Orpah  and  Ruth :  and  we 
may  very  fairly  regard  each  of  them  as  the  representative  of  a 
class ;  to  which  it  may  possibly  appear  that  we  ourselves  belong. 
And  without  thereby  limiting  the  application  of  the  text  to 
persons  of  any  particular  age  or  sex,  it  may,  perhaps,  awaken 
more  interest  in  the  minds  of  a  portion  of  my  hearers,  to  remind 
you  that  these  individuals  were  young  women,  who  have  their 
antitypes  in  every  congregation. 

Let  us,  for  a  little  season,  meditate  on  the  contrast  which  is 
here  represented.  1.  Our  first  point  is  Orpah' s  return.  Her 
kiss  was  that  of  valediction  and  parting.  Having  at  first,  along 
with  Ruth,  exi^ressed  her  determination  to  go  with  Naomi  to 
Canaan,  she  afterwards  changed  her  mind,  and,  though  with 
evident  sadness,  and  a  degree  of  reluctance,  went  back  to  live 
and  die  in  the  land  of  her  nativity.  Her  conduct  presents  very 
distinctly  two  phases  of  character  and  experience  which  are  re- 
produced in  every  generation.  It  reveals,  so  to  speak,  that 
dualism  in  the  soul — that  struggle  of  conscience  with  corruption 
— of  the  religious  sensibilities  with  the  deep  ungodliness  of  our 


III.]  ORPAH  AND  RUTH.  57 

nature — ^which  is  familiar  to  the  experience  of  all  who  live  under 
the  ministrations  and  influences  of  the  gospel.  Who  has  not 
felt  himself  pulled  in  contrary  directions?  not  only  as  to  whether 
he  should  do  or  not  do  a  given  action,  but  as  to  the  great  and 
decisive  question  of  surrendering  his  heart  to  God?  Reason, 
conscience,  and  the  fear  of  punishment  urge  to  the  surrender : 
aversion  to  holiness,  and  the  love  of  a  sinful  life,  hinder  and 
prevent  it.  In  the  conduct  of  Orpah,  these  opposing  forces  are 
visibly  depicted. 

She  wef)it  a  certain  distance  with  her  mother-in-law.  We  will 
not  strain  a  significance  out  of  this  which  does  not  fairly  belong 
to  it.  Doubtless  it  was  personal  attachment  mainly  which 
wrought  with  her,  and  there  is  no  positive  evidence  that  she  had 
in  mind  the  bearing  her  conduct  might  have  on  her  spiritual 
mterests  and  the  salvation  of  her  soul. 

But  when  we  consider  who  Naomi  was — a  Jewess — a  wor- 
shipper of  Jehovah — a  woman  of  devoted  piety,  whose  holy  and 
consistent  life  had  been  making  its  mark  on  the  mind  of  Orpah, 
for  years  together,  in  scenes  of  joy  and  sorrow ; — and  when  we 
further  remember  that  the  simple  act  of  removing  her  residence 
from  Moab  to  Canaan  involved  a  change  of  rehgion — and  ne- 
cessitated the  renunciation  of  idol-worship — it  is  plain  that  a 
religious  element  must  have  blended  with  the  personal  affection 
which  drew  her  after  Naomi.  Not  her  heart  of  natural  love 
only,  but  her  conscience  led  in  that  direction :  and  she  went  a 
certain  distance,  intending,  as  it  would  seem,  to  go  all  the  way 
and  have  her  part  and  portion  with  the  people  and  God  of  her 
pious  relative. 

Not  with  the  desire  of  turning  them  from  their  purpose,  but, 
as  we  must  suppose,  for  the  sake  of  putting  their  sincerity  and 
earnestness  to  the  test,  "Naomi  said  unto  her  two  daughters- 


58  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

in-law,  Go,  return  eacli  to  lier  motlier's  house :  The  Lord  deal 
kindly  with  you,  as  ye  have  dealt  with  the  dead  and  with  me. 
The  Lord  grant  that  ye  may  find  rest,  each  of  you  in  the  house 
of  her  husband.  Then  she  kissed  them,  and  they  lifted  up  their 
voice  and  wept. ' '  At  first  suggestion,  the  thought  of  separa- 
tion was  too  painful  to  be  entertained ;  and  they  both  exclaimed, 
"  Surely  we  will  return  with  thee  unto  thy  people."  As  if  de- 
termined to  subject  their  characters  and  purposes  to  the  most 
thorough  probation,  she  then  stated  in  detail  the  drawbacks  and 
disadvantages  involved  in  carrying  out  the  resolution  which  they 
had  just  announced:  and  this  occasioned  a  new  outburst  of 
grief;  but  it  also  brought  on  the  crisis,  and  developed  what  be- 
fore had  been  latent — the  difference  in  their  characters. 

' '  Orpah  kissed  her  mother-in-law, ' '  and  departed.  It  cost 
her  a  struggle,  but  she  did  it,  and  there  are  many  Hke  her.  Tt 
is  a  very  common  thing  among  the  unconverted — especially  the 
youn^,  and  most  of  all,  perhaps,  among  young  females,  to  feel 
tendrrly  and  strongly  attracted  towards  the  people  of  God  and 
a  life  of  piety :  and  it  is  lamentably  common  with  those  who  are 
the  subjects  of  this  experience,  and  have  taken  some  steps  Zion- 
ward,  inquirmg  the  way,  to  stop,  halt  a  while  between  two 
opinions,  and  at  last  go  back  to  the  place  of  departure,  and  die 
and  perish  in  the  land  of  their  nativity.  A  superficial  convic- 
tion of  sin,  sympathy  with  the  religious  feeling  which  prevails 
around  them,  personal  attachment  to  individual  Christians,  and 
motives  less  pure,  may  start  a  person  on  a  course  of  external 
deportmept  and  duty  which  gives  promise  of  conversion  and 
salvation.  But  he  starts  without  "counting  the  cost;"  and 
hence,  when  brought  into  contact  with  i\\Q  difficulties  and  sacri- 
fices involved  in  the  undertaking,  he  turns  back,  and  is  seen  no 
more  in  company  with  those  whose  faces  are  resolutely  set  to- 


III.]  ORPAH  AND  RUTH.  59 

ward  the  Zion  of  God.  The  Hfe  and  ministry  of  Jesus  Christ 
brought  many  such  characters  to  Hght.  Such  was  ' '  a  certain 
Scribe"  who  said — "Master,  I  will  follow  thee  whithersoever 
thou  goest;"  but  who  immediately  disappeared  on  our  Lord's 
saying — "  The  foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have 
nests ;  but  the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head. ' ' 
Such  were  a  multitude  who,  having  begun  to  follow  him  from 
interested  motives,  presently  stumbled  at  his  "hard  sajdngs," 
and  went  back  and  walked  no  more  with  him :  and  as  an  exact 
type  of  this  class,  and  as  a  counterpart  of  the  case  in  hand,  we 
may  mention  the  young  ruler  who  came  running  to  Jesus,  and 
kneeling  at  his  feet,  inquired.  What  he  must  do  to  inherit  eter- 
nal life.  A  more  hopeful  inquirer  it  would  be  hard  to  imagine. 
As  to  the  letter,  he  had  kept  the  commandments  of  God  from 
his  youth  ;  his  morals  were  pure,  his  manner  profoundly  respect- 
ful, his  feeling  deep !  Surely  he  is  just  now  taking  the  decisive 
step — entering  in  at  the  strait  gate ! 

We  should  have  thought  so :  but  the  Searcher  of  hearts 
judged  otherwise,  and  applied  a  test  which  revealed  to  the  man 
his  heart :  and,  like  Orpah,  he  7vent  away  sorrowful — with  dis- 
appointment and  grief  depicted  on  his  face.  ^^ 

What  has  now  been  said  niSLj  suffice  as  to  the  influences  and 
feelings  which  induced  Orpah  to  go  as  far  as  she  did  :  but  here 
an  important  question  meets  us :  Why  did  they  not  carry  her 
forward?  Why  did  she  turn  back?  The  inconveniences  and 
hardships  ahead,  as  represented  by  Naomi,  had  some  influence 
on  the  result ;  but  they  were  not  insurmountable :  a  resolute 
and  undivided  heart  could  overcome  such  obstacles. 

Ruth  did  it.  There  must  have  been  at  woi-k  a  secret  and  pow- 
erful influence  drawing  her  in  the  opposite  direction.  And  what 
this  was,  we  are  not  left  to  conjecture,  or  to  infer  from  the  gene- 


60  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

ral  doctrine  of  Scripture,  in  regard  to  tlie  sinfulness  of  the  hu- 
man heart.  The  narrative  suppHes  the  explanation.  Just  as 
Orpah  turned  to  depart,  Naomi  made  a  last  appeal  to  Ruth,  to 
see  whether  example  might  not  shake  her  constancy.  ' '  Behold, 
thy  sister-in-law  is  gone  back  unto  her  people,  and  unto  her  gods  ; 
return  thou  after  thy  sister-in-law. ' '  These  words,  to  our  mind, 
assert  not  only  the  general  nature  and  effect  of  Orpah' s  conduct, 
but  the  motive  also  which  induced  it. 

It  was  love  to  her  sinful  countrymen  and  kindred,  and  devotion 
to  idols.  These  were  the  two  strong  bonds  by  which  Satan  held 
her  soul  in  captivity — the  powers  which  counteracted  and  over- 
came the  dictates  of  conscience,  and  sundered  her  connexion  with 
those  to  whom  she  was  nearly  related  and  tenderly  attached. 
And  the  same  influences  have  had  the  same  effect  on  multitudes 
besides.  Domestic  and  social  connexions,  with  those  who  fear  not 
(xod,  are  among  the  most  operative  and  powerful  causes  of  con- 
tinued impenitence. 

Common  topics  of  conversation,  common  sources  of  pleasure, 
and  a  common  alienation  from  Grod,  are  their  bond  of  union — a 
magnetic  attraction  which  draws  unbelieving  minds  and  earthly 
hearts  together.  The  love  of  such  associations  and  friendships — 
the  unwillingness  to  displease — want  of  courage  to  be  singular — 
and  the  fear  of  ridicule  and  contempt,  are  powerful  impediments 
to  conversion.  They  are  continually  suppressing  conviction,  and 
quenching  the  Spirit  in  thousands  of  hearts.  To  make  their 
operation  palpable  as  possible,  suppose  the  case  of  a  young 
lady  who  is  devoted  to  fashionable  pleasures.  She  lives  in  so- 
ciety. Her  most  intimate  friends,  are,  like  herself,  thoughtless 
on  the  subject  of  religion.  She  meets  with  them  often — drinks 
into  their  spirit,  and  is  never  so  happy  as  when  mingling  in  the 
festivities  of  a  party.     The  dance  is  her  Elysium.     Leading  such 


III. J  ORPAII  AND   RUTH.  61 

a  life,  she  is  not  a  very  likely  subject  of  serious  thought.  Never- 
theless, the  gay  votaries  of  pleasure  do  sometimes  receive  the 
visitations  of  God's  Spirit.  It  thus  happens  to  her.  A  sermon,  a 
providence,  the  solemn  appeal  of  a  pious  friend,  brings  the  sub- 
ject before  her  mind,  and  conscience  and  the  Spirit  unite  to  give 
it  impression  and  power.  She  feels  that  she  ought  to  be  a 
Christian ;  that  the  life  she  is  leading  is  neither  right  nor  safe. 
And  while  these  thoughts  occupy  her  mind,  she  is  half-persuaded 
to  act  on  them,  and  "go"  with  the  people  of  Grod.  Like  Orpah, 
she  takes  some  steps  in  that  direction,  then  stops,  and  at  last 
turns  back.  Why  does  she  act  thus  ?  I  appeal  to  the  experi- 
ence of  my  hearers,  especially  of  the  young,  and  most  especially 
of  young  women,  if  the  consideration  which  first  occurred  and 
operated  with  greatest  power,  was  not  the  thought  that  by  be- 
coming a  Christian,  you  would  be  compelled  to  give  up  your 
intimacy  with  gay  and  godless  companions — renouncing  the 
pleasures  of  the  ball-room,  the  card-table,  and  all  the  kindred 
practices  in  which  undevout  and  earthly  minds  delight  ? 

Your  social  connexions,  enfolding  you  like  a  net- work,  held  you 
fast,  and  after  an  ineffectual  struggle  you  determined — regret- 
fully and  sadly  it  may  be — but  still  you  determined,  to  give  the 
matter  of  your  soul's  salvation  the  go-by,  at  least  for  the  present, 
and  to  drink  the  cup  of  sinful  pleasure  a  little  longer. 

You  ' '  went  back  to  your  own  people, ' '  and  you  are  an  impeni- 
tent sinner  to-day,  because  you  would  not  separate  yourself  from 
those  who  were  living  in  estrangement  from  God. 

But  it  is  further  said  of  Orpah,  that  she  ' '  went  hack  unto  her 


The  gods  of  the  Moabites  were,  of  course,  false  deities — idols 
which  had  usurped  the  name,  the  place,  the  prerogatives,  and 
the  worship  due  to  Jehovah,  who  alone  is  the  Creator,  Lord, 


62  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

and  Redeemer  of  men.  Of  these  tlie  principal  were  CJiemosh  and 
Baal-Peor,  of  whose  pecuHar  worship  little  is  known,  except  that 
what  was  rendered  to  the  latter,  is  said  to  have  been  emphatic- 
ally an  ' '  abominable  idolatry. ' '  To  these  impure  rites  and  God- 
dishonouring  altars  Orpah  returned,  and  gave  to  these  vile 
usurpers  the  homage  and  affection  of  her  soul. 

And  it  was  because  she  preferred  to  be  an  idolater,  that  she 
did  not  become  a  worshipper  of  th'e  Grod  of  Israel.  Her  heart 
was  fully  possessed  by  that  infatuation  and  blindness  which  ever 
characterize  idolatry :  and  though  she  had  seen  the  lovely  fruits 
of  a  purer  religion  in  the  character  and  life  of  Naomi,  she  could 
not  be  won  from  it :  and  hence,  after  meditating  a  change,  and 
for  a  season  purposing  to  break  away  from  its  bewitching  at- 
tractions, her  resolution  failed,  and  she  went  "back  to  her  gods" 
— to  live  and  die,  and  perish  at  their  altars. 

I  need  not  inform  you,  my  friends,  that  idolatry  may  exist 
where  no  temple  or  priest,  image  or  victim,  is  seen.  "There  are 
gods,  many,"  and  idolaters  many,  where  the  light  of  revelation 
shines  with  fullest  blaze.  And  I  suppose  that  the  guiltiest  and 
most  God-dishonouring  idolaters  on  the  face  of  the  earth  are 
those  among  ourselves  who  "are  lovers  of  pleasure  more  than 
lovers  of  God, ' '  who  ' '  worship  and  serve  the  creature  more  than 
the  Creator." 

Spiritual  idolatry  is  the  common  and  fundamental  wickedness 
of  the  impenitent  in  Christian  lands ;  and  it  is  the  mightiest  im- 
pediment to  their  conversion.  It  lies  at  the  foundation  of  what 
we  have  before  spoken  of — the  sinner's  unwillingness  to  forsake 
Christless  and  worldly  companions.  This  is  the  precise  thing 
which  hinders  your  salvation.  Your  heart  is  ungodly  and  idola- 
trous. You  love  the  pleasures  of  sin  more  than  the  God  who 
created  you,  and  the  Saviour  who  died  for  you. 


III.]  ORPAH  AND  RUTH.  63 

You  may  make  an  idol  of  your  person^  of  your  attire ;  of  com- 
pany ^  of  an  amusement,  of  a  novel,  of  anj'^  ' '  trifle  light  as  air, ' ' 
so  fearfully  atheistic  is  man's  apostate  nature.  Many  of  you, 
perhaps,  have  often  done  already,  and  I  greatly  fear  will  do 
again  to-day,  the  thing  •  which  Orpah  did — go  hack  to  your 
gods! 

But  why  will  you  do  it?  Why  will  ye  die?  I  entreat  you 
not  to  do  it.  I  warn  you  against  it.  It  is  a  great  iniquity, 
though  often  committed  by  very  amiable  persons.  We  feel  a 
great  interest  in  Orpah.  She  possessed  tender  sensibilities, 
warm  affections;  and  Naomi,  who  had  reason  to  know,  bore 
witness  that  she  had  been  a  dutiful  daughter  and  a  devoted 
wife.  But — she  was  an  idolater.  She  preferred  to  prostrate 
herself  at  the  shrine  of  a  filthy  idol,  rather  than  "compass  the 
altar' '  of  Jehovah,  and  join  in  the  acts  of  a  pure  and  sanctifying 
worship ! 

And  I  must  tell  you  that  amiability,  sweetness  of  temper, 
grace  of  person  and  manners,  dutifulness  as  a  daughter,  kind- 
ness as  a  sister,  devotion  as  a  wife,  will  avail  you  nothing,  if 
over  against  it  all  is  set  an  ungodly  heart. 

Orpah  committed  a  great  eri'or^  as  well  as  a  great  sin,  in  going 
back.  She  chose  what  for  the  present  was  the  more  agreeable 
course — ^yielding  to  the  impulse  of  feeling,  rather  than  following 
the  dictates  of  judgment  and  conscience.  What  became  of  her 
in  life,  death,  and  eternity,  is  not  recorded.  The  natural  pre- 
sumption is  against  her.  The  probability  is,  that  she  lived  and 
died  in  her  sins,  a  worshipper  of  idols,  and  went  to  an  unblest 
eternity — an  eternity  the  more  unblest,  because,  at  one  time  in 
her  history,  she  had  been  powerfully  attracted  towards  God  and 
salvation,  and  ' '  almost  persuaded' '  to  cast  in  her  lot  with  those 
who  were  going  to  Canaan  and  to  heaven. 


64  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

Her  conduct  is,  therefore,  our  "ensample,"  not  for  imitation^ 
but  for  warning — a  beacon-liglit  set  up  on  a  dangerous  coast 
where  multitudes  have  made  shipwreck  of  faith  and  a  good  con- 
science, and  lost  their  souls. 

"Remember  Lot's  wife^''^  whose  lingering,  regretful  look  at 
the  accursed  city  cost  her  her  life.  Remember  Orpah,  who, 
after  having  actually  started  to  the  Land  of  Promise,  lost  heart, 
and  drew  "  back  to  perdition."  Keep  these  monuments  of  un- 
helief^  worldliness,  and  idolatry  ever  in  your  view,  and  flee  the 
danger  which  they  indicate  :  and  when  your  hearts  are  possessed 
with  a  salutary  fear  of  going  in  the  wrong  direction,  turn  to  the 
beautiful  and  persuasive  example  of  Euth,  and  peradventure,  it 
may  win  you  to  the  pleasant  ways  of  wisdom,  and  put  your  feet 
in  that  path,  the  end  of  which  is  "glory,  honour,  and  immor- 
tality." 

II.  "And  Orpah  kissed  her  mother-in-law, .but  Ruth  clave 
unto  her. ' '  The  noblest  examples  of  heroic  faith,  and  of  fidelity 
to  Grod  and  conscience,  are  often  raised  up  on  the  very  scene  of 
defection  and  apostasy :  and  they  shine  with  a  brighter  lustre, 
and  draw  with  a  stronger  attraction,  because  of  the  contrast  in 
which  they  appear.  They  show  that  in  the  very  same  circum- 
stances of  trial  and  difficulty  before  which  others  give  way,  it  is 
possible  to  hold  fast  one's  integrity,  and  enter  the  kingdom  of 
Grod.  These  parallels  run  through  the  Scriptures,  and  are  con- 
stantly developed  in  the  history  of  Redemption. 

Of  such  classes,  Orpah  and  Ruth  are  excellent  types ;  and 
the  example  of  the  latter  comes  to  us  clothed  with  peculiar 
power,  because  we  see  it  in  the  light  of  her  sister's  defection. 
Nothing  could  change  her  steadfast  mind.  Her  courage  grew 
with  the  obstacles  it  encountered,  like  Barfvmeits,  who  cried  the 
louder,  when  the  multitude  required  him  to  hold  his  peace. 


III.]  ORPAH  AND  RUTH.  65 

Three  several  times  did  Naomi  propose  that  she  should  return — 
in  the  last  instance  citing  the  example  of  Orpah  :  "Behold,  thy 
sister-in-law  is  gone  back  unto  her  people,  and  unto  her  gods : 
return  thou  after  thy  sister-in-law. ' ' 

This  brought  matters  to  a  crisis.  Such  a  proposal  was  abhor- 
rent to  her  soul.  She  repelled  it,  and  clave  unto  Naomi ;  and 
her  full  heart  gave  vent  to  its  overpowering  emotions  in  those 
ever-memorable  words,  concerning  which  Voltaire  is  said  to  have 
acknowledged  that  there  is  "nothing  in  Homer  or  Herodotus 
that  goes  to  the  heart"  as  they  do :  "Entreat  me  not  to  leave 
thee,  or  to  return  from  following  after  thee :  for  whither  thou 
goest,  I  will  go;  and  where  thou  lodgest,  I  will  lodge:  thy 
people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God  my  Grod :  where  thou 
diest,  will  I  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried :  the  Lord  do  so  to 
me,  and  more  also,  if  aught  but  death  part  thee  and  me. ' ' 

Let  me  commend  to  you  this  admirable  example  of  decision. 
Many  fail  of  the  grace  of  Grod,  and  lose  their  immortal  souls,  by 
halting  between  two  opinions.  They  wish  to  be  Christians,  hope 
they  shall  be ;  have  no  thought  of  dying  in  impenitence ;  but  they 
cannot  bring  themselves  up  to  the  point  of  an  immediate  and  unal- 
terable purpose  to  serve  Grod,  and  to  cast  in  their  lot  with  his 
people. 

To  be  saved,  you  must  look  the  difficulties  full  in  the  face, 
count  the  cost,  and,  in  the  strength  of  Grod,  resolve  that,  as  for 
you,  you  will  serve  the  Lord.  If  neighbours  or  kindred  will  not 
go  with  you,  you  must  go  alone,  and,  in  the  meaning  of  our  Lord, 
"  hate'^  and  "forsake"  them,  for  the  kingdom  of  God's  sake. 

Without  such  a  resolution,  formed  and  acted  on,  you  will  va- 
cillate all  the  days  of  your  life,  or  else,  after  resisting  the  con- 
victions of  your  conscience  for  a  while,  become  so  hardened 
through  the  deceitfulness  of  sin,  as  to  feel  no  concern  about  sal- 


66  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Sor. 

vation.  I  exhort  you,  therefore,  to  be  decided.  Determine 
now  to  be  a  Christian.  Be  resolute.  ' '  Strive  to  enter  in  at  the 
strait  gate :  for  many,  I  say  unto  you,  will  seek  to  enter  in,  and 
shall  not  be  able. ' ' 

Imitate  Kuth,  who  clave  unto  a  poor  and  pious  widow,  be- 
cause she  was  the  representative  of  God,  of  his  people,  and  of 
his  salvation.  Cleave  to  your  convictions.  "Cleave  to  that 
which  is  good,"  and  to  those  who  are  good.  "  Cleave  unto  the 
Lord  your  God."  Say  to  the  church — "I  will  go  with  you, 
for  I  have  heard  that  God  is  with  you. ' ' 

To  help,  if  possible,  this  good  purpose  to  the  birth  in  your 
heart,  let  me  suggest  how  morally  heaiitiful  genuine  piety  is  in 
the  young ;  and,  may  I  not  add? — especially  in  young  women.  I 
am  sure  you  admire  the  character  of  Ruth  more  than  that  of 
Orpah.  Her  very  name  is  held  in  precious  remembrance,  and 
given  to  many  a  child  of  prayer  and  of  promise.  Godliness  is 
not  imbccoming  to  any  one.  It  dignifies  and  graces  the  charac- 
ter of  a  man.  It  "becomes  the  throned  monarch  better  than 
his  crown. "     "  'Tis  mightiest  m  the  mightiest. ' ' 

But  surely,  of  all  the  adornments  of  a  woman,  this  is  the 
chief.  "  Favour  is  deceitful,  and  beauty  is  vain :  but  a  woman 
that  feareth  the  Lord,  she  shall  be  praised.  Gold,  and  pearls, 
and  costly  array  lose  their  brilliancy  and  beauty  beside  ' '  the  or- 
nament of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  which,  in  the  sight  of  God, 
is  of  great  price  " — and  in  the  sight  of  man  also,  even  of  those 
who  are  blind  to  the  beauty  of  holiness,  is  not  by  any  means 
despised.  If  you  wish  to  put  on  the  most  "beautiful  garment" 
— one  woven  by  divine  art,  and  woven  in  the  colours  of  heaven, 
"put  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  and  the  graces  of  his  Spirit. 
Love,  joy,  and  peace  ;  meekness,  gentleness,  and  humility,  will  be 
* '  an  ornament  of  grace  unto  thy  head,  and  chains  about  thy  neck. ' ' 


III.]  ORPAH  AND  RUTH.  67 

In  time  of  youth  tliey  will  be  more  beautiful  than  the  rose  on 
your  cheek,  or  the  lily- whiteness  of  your  hand :  and  in  those 
"evil  days"  which  are  coming  fast, — ^when  the  "daughters  of 
music  are  brought  low,  and  the  windows  are  darkened,  and  you 
have  no  pleasure  in  them," — these  flowers  of  Paradise,  early 
planted  in  the  garden  of  the  heart,  will  put  forth  their  comeliest 
colours  and  emit  their  sweetest  odours.  "The  righteous  shall 
flourish  like  the  palm-tree ;  he  shall  grow  like  the  cedar  in  Le- 
banon." " They  shall  still  bring  forth  fruit  in  old  age;  they 
shall  be  fat  and  flourishing." 

And  finally,  the  example  of  Ruth  is  commended  to  your  imi- 
tation, by  the  happiness^  blessing^  and  honour  which  resulted  from 
her  choice. 

From  the  hour  she  took  for  her  ovm^  the  people  and  God  of 
Naomi,  a  benignant  providence  attended  her  steps.  She  found 
in  Canaan  far  more  and  better  things  than  she  left  in  Moab. 
The  reproach  and  sorrow  of  widowhood,  she  presently  forgot  in 
the  house  of  an  afifectionate,  honoured,  and  pious  husband.  And 
the  temporal  blessings  enjoyed  were  the  least  part  of  her  recom- 
pense. She  lived  and  died  according  to  her  wish,  in  communion 
with  the  people  of  God ;  and  with  them  now  awaits  a  glorious 
resurrection.  She  proved,  experimentally,  that  "godliness  hath 
the  promise  of  the  life  that  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come. ' ' 

If  you  imitate  her  example,  you  will  share  her  blessedness. 
"  Wisdom's  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths 
are  peace." 

"Every  one  that  hath  forsaken  houses,  or  brethren,  or  sisters, 
or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  for  my 
name's  sake,  shall  receive  an  hundred-fold,  and  shall  inherit 
everlasting  life."    Matt.  xix.  29. 


68  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 


SERMON   IV. 
BEAEING  THE  YOKE  IN  YOUTH. 

Lam.  iii.  27.  —  It  is  good  for  a  man  that  he  hear  the  yoke  in 
his  youth. 

Those  things  which  are  best  for  us,  are  not  always  the  plea- 
santest :  and  many  things  which  the  Bible  represents  as  bless- 
ings are  looked  on  as  quite  the  reverse. 

In  regard  to  the  government  and  discipline  which  God  exer- 
cises over  mankind,  we  sustain  the  same  kind  of  relation  that 
children  do  to  the  control  and  care  of  their  parents.  So  igno- 
rant are  they  of  what  is  best  for  them,  and  so  utterly  incapable 
of  entering  into  the  views  of  those  who  have  at  heart  their  high- 
est happiness  and  welfare,  that  it  often  seems  to  them  as  if  their 
parents'  will  and  authority  were  the  greatest  evil  they  had  to  en- 
counter. Their  appetites  and  passions  are  clamorous  for  indulg- 
ence, and  they  can  neither  see  the  wisdom  nor  the  kindness  of 
denying  them  what  they  crave. 

In  their  case  we  can  readily  see  that  it  is  inexperience  and  ig- 
norance that  beget  unhappiness,  and  make  them  restive  under 
parental  control.  The  best  blessing  to  a  child,  next  to  the  care 
and  love  of  the  Great  Father  in  heaven,  is  that  of  "the  fathers 
of  our  flesh :"  and  there  is  nothing  for  which  a  man  is  more  de- 
voutly thankful  than  for  the  very  restraint  which,  while  it  annoyed 


IV.]  BEARING  THE  YOKE  IN  YOUTH.  69 

and  chafed  his  youtliful  spirit,  was  the  effectual  means  of  turn- 
ing his  feet  from  the  paths  of  danger,  and  forming  those  habits 
of  self-control  and  industry  which  have  led  to  temporal  success, 
and  even  to  the  salvation  of  his  soul. 

What  parental  disciphne  is  to  a  child,  as  a  means  of  preparing 
it  for  the  labours  of  mortal  life  and  of  this  present  world,  the 
gracious  government  of  Grod  is  to  us  all,  as  the  heirs  of  an  im- 
mortal existence.  Its  object  is  our  ultimate  welfare,  and  not  our 
present  gratification  ;  and  its  wisdom  and  love  are  vindicated  not 
by  the  pleasure  of  present  experience,  but  by  the  preciousness 
of  its  final  fruits.  What  is  "  good' '  for  us  may  not  be  agreeable, 
and  what  is  agreeable  may  not  be  good.  Left  to  ourselves,  like 
children,  we  instinctively  choose  what  is  pleasant,  thoughtless 
or  ignorant  of  consequences,  and  if  no  higher  wisdom  than  our 
own  were  brought  to  bear  in  the  premises,  we  should  be  our  own 
worst  enemies. 

A  child  cries  for  sweetmeats  when  it  needs  medicine,  and  a 
boy  clamours  for  liberty  when  his  safety  and  salvation  demand 
government ;  and  there  is  not  one  of  us  who  is  not  guilty  of 
follies  and  errors,  equally  injurious  to  our  welfare  as  accountable 
and  immortal  creatures.  Many  of  us  have  lived  long  enough  to 
see  that  Divine  checks  and  interferences  with  our  wishes  and  pur- 
poses have  subserved  our  interests,  and  given  us  greater  blessings 
by  far  than  would  have  been  the  gratification  of  our  desires. 

The  statement  of  the  text  should  not  therefore  encounter  our 
prejudice.  Not  to  insist  on  its  authority  as  a  Divine  oracle,  it  is 
supported  by  many  analogies  and  abundant  experience.  "It  is 
good  for  a  man  that  he  bear  the  yoke  in  his  youth. ' ' 

The  nature  and  significance  of  the  "yoke,"  and  the  reasons 
why  it  is  good  to  bear  it  in  the  days  of  our  "?/o?^^7i,"  are  the 
points  presented,  and  to  which  I  now  invite  your  attention. 


70  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

I.  And  first,  we  are  to  inquire  for  the  nature  and  meaning  of 
the  yoke  referred  to. 

In  general,  a  yoke  is  the  emblem  of  service  and  subjection — as 
where  the  apostle  speaks  of  ' '  servants  under  the  j^oke. ' ' 

It  may  be  galling  and  oppressive,  amounting  to  intolerable 
slavery,  like  the  "yoke  of  bondage"  to  Jewish  ordinances,  of 
which  Peter  said,  "neither  we  nor  our  fathers  were  able  to 
bear."  Or,  it  may  be  the  light  and  pleasant  yoke  of  the  "  rea- 
sonable" and  willing  service  which  Christ  requires,  and  of 
which  he  says,  ' '  My  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden  is  light. ' ' 

As  the  language  of  the  text  is  general^  and  there  is  no  limiting 
or  descriptive  epithet  which  shows  the  application  designed,  we 
are  left  to  infer  the  nature  of  the  yoke  spoken  of  from  the  de- 
claration that  it  is  good  for  a  man  to  bear  it  in  his  youth :  and  I 
have  no'  doubt  that  in  this  case,  the  highest  sense  is  the  truest. 
It  is  the  yoke  of  religion — the  subjugation  of  the  soul  to  the  will 
and  employment  in  the  service  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The 
declaration  of  the  text  is  true,  however,  in  all  its  applications, — 
the  lowest  not  less  than  the  highest.  The  yoke  of  a  child's  sub- 
jection to  its  parents ;  the  yoke  of  a  lad's  apprenticeship  to  the 
master  who  teaches  him  a  mechanical  trade,  and  the  yoke  of  a 
school-boy's  discipline  by  which  he  is  taught  the  lessons  of  sub- 
mission to  rightful  authority  and  patient  and  painful  application, 
are  earthly  and  secular  senses  in  which  the  principle  announced 
holds  good.  The  truth  is,  it  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  hu- 
man well-being,  and  inseparable  from  the  existence  of  creatures 
at  once  dependent  and  accountable.  If  religion  is  a  yohe^  it  is 
put  on  necks  which  are  made  to  bear  a  yoke,  and  which,  in  all 
other  respects,  are  not  "  unaccustomed"  to  do  so. 

In  the  prosecution  of  worldly  undertakings  men  draw,  like  the 
veriest  oxen,  in  the  yoke  of  a  real  or  a  self-imposed  necessit}^, 


IV.]  BEARING  THE  YOKE  IN  YOUTH.  71 

taking  up  their  daily  cross  of  self-denial.  Ease,  pleasure,  society, 
are  constantly  sacrificed  to  what  they  regard  as  a  higher  inter- 
est :  and  religion  is  but  acting  on  the  same  principle  in  its  ap- 
plication to  the  highest  concerns  of  immortal  beings.  And  the 
Bible  is  both  frank  and  fearless  in  calling  it  by  its  proper  name. 
It  2^  a  yoke.  It  involves  obligation,  service,  and  subjection.  It 
is  not  an  opinion,  a  sentiment,  a  feeling,  or  a  profession.  It  is 
a  loving  obedience  to  Grod.  It  is  discipleship  in  the  school  of 
Jesus,  taking  him  for  Teacher,  Lord,  Pattern,  not  less  than  as 
Redeemer  and  Saviour.  If  this  is  the  nature  of  religion,  and 
these  the  terms  of  salvation,  we  should  not  hesitate  to  set  it 
forth  in  its  true  colours.  Jesus  did  so.  He  met  men  at  the 
very  threshold  of  their  inquiries  with  the  cross  and  the  yoke.  To 
the  old  and  the  young,  he  said  alike : — "If  any  man  will  come 
after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross,  and  fol- 
low me."  And  even  to  those  whom  he  saw  fainting  and  falling 
under  the  burden  of  their  sins  and  sorrows,  he  said,  ' '  Take  my 
yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me :  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in 
heart ;  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls. ' ' 

I  am  well  aware  that  a  mistaken  idea  of  what  the  j^oke  of  Je- 
sus is,  exists  in  the  minds  of  men,  and  operates  with  peculiar 
power  on  the  young,  as  a  hindrance  to  their  conversion  and  sal- 
vation. They  see  in  religion  nothing  but  restraint,  and  their 
exact  conception  of  it  is  that  of  a  "yoke,"  which  limits  their 
freedom  and  fetters  their  powers.  Hence  they  refuse  it,  and  re- 
solve to  enjoy  the  largest  liberty.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  single 
objection  which  has  more  weight  with  persons  in  the  earlier 
periods  of  life.  In  the  hope  of  neutralizing  its  power,  we  offer 
two  or  three  remarks. 

The  first  is,  that  unrestrained  liberty  is  impossible. 

Our  freedom  to  do  as  we  please,  is  confined  on  every  side,  by 


72  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

impassable  barriers.  The  relations  we  sustain  to  one  another  in 
the  family,  in  society,  in  the  state,  and  the  rules  of  conduct  im- 
posed by  public  opinion  and  civil  authority,  prevent  men  from 
doing  many  things  which  they  might  wish  to  do :  while  the 
moral  obligations  which  rest  upon  us  as  the  accountable  crea- 
tures of  Grod,  are  inseparable  from  our  existence.  If  we  disre- 
gard, we  cannot  annul  them.  They  must  bind  us  still,  as  we 
shall  find,  in  the  day  of  final  retribution,  and  in  the  miseries 
which  sin  begets  even  in  this  present  life. 

Creatures  cannot  be  independent.  Subjection  to  law  and  au- 
thority is  the  condition  of  their  existence. 

In  the  second  place,  let  it  be  considered,  that  every  one  is  cer- 
tain to  wear  the  yoke  of  some  master.  If  we  do  not  serve  God, 
we  will  serve  mammon,  or  appetite,  or  some  of  the  "divers  lusts 
and  pleasures, ' '  which  enslave  the  votaries  of  the  world.  Our 
choice  is  between  being  the  Lord's  freedmen  or  Satan's  slaves : 
between  a  voluntary,  rational,  and  manly  compliance  with  the 
dictates  of  conscience  and  the  demands  of  reason,  and  an  igno- 
ble and  slavish  subjection  to  the  blind  importunity  of  appetite 
and  passion.  It  is  a  master-stroke  of  Satanic  subtlety  and  false- 
hood, to  make  men  believe  that  in  choosing  the  latter  branch  of 
this  alternative,  they  are  making  sure  of  personal  freedom  and 
independence !  To  set  reason  and  conscience  at  defiance,  and  give 
one's  self  up  to  the  dominion  of  appetite,  lust,  and  worldly  plea- 
sures, involves  a  deeper  moral  degradation,  and  a  more  abject 
bondage,  than  is  found  among  the  slaves  of  a  Southern  plan- 
tation. 

Is  the  drunkard  free  who  cannot  withstand  the  fascination  of 
the  wine-cup?  Or  the  adulterer,  who  is  unable  to  pass  by  the 
hou.«e  of  her  whose  ways  take  hold  on  hell?  Or  the  "com- 
panion of  fools, ' '  who  has  not  the  moral  courage  and  manliness 


IV.]  BEARING  THE  YOKE  IN  YOUTH.  73 

to  say  No  to  their  guilty  and  shameful  enticements?  Or  the 
gay  devotee  of  fashionable  pleasures  and  amusements,  who  con- 
tinually suppresses  the  voice  of  conscience  and  the  strivings  of 
God's  Spirit?  One  and  all  these  are  miserable  slaves,  and  none 
the  less  so  because  their  bondage  is  voluntary.  A  man  is  none 
the  less  a  slave  because  he  chooses  to  abide  with  his  master,  and 
these  "servants  of  sin"  are  made  slaves  by  the  power  of  their 
nmster^  and  the  degradation  of  their  employment  and  condition : 
and  rightly  considered,  their  voluntariness  is  but  an  element  of 
their  bondage,  even  as  the  contentment  of  a  slave  proves  how 
utterly  the  spirit  of  genuine  manhood  has  been  extinguished  in 
his  heart. 

Once  more  : — Let  those  who  dread  and  shun  religion  as  if  it 
were  a  "yoke  of  bondage,"  listen  to  the  testimonies  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  the  experience  of  Christians  as  to  the  nature  of  expe- 
rimental and  practical  religion.  Though  the  Bible  calls  it  a 
"yoke,"  good  care  is  taken  to  tell  us  in  what  sense  the  word  is 
used.  If  it  implies  service  and  subjection,  all  that  is  repulsive 
and  forbidding  in  this  conception  is  dissipated  when  we  are  in- 
formed that  Christ  is  our  Master,  and  hear  from  his  own  gra- 
cious lips  this  sweet  call  to  discipleship — "Take  my  yoke  upon 
you,  and  learn  of  me ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,  and  ye 
shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls. ' '  So  far  is  discipleship  in  the 
school  of  Christ  from  being  a  condition  of  bondage,  that  the 
Scriptures  present  it  under  the  image  of  a  blessed  emancipation 
from  servitude,  and  an  introduction  of  the  soul  into  a  state  of 
"glorious  liberty."  To  the  Jews,  Christ  said — "If  the  Son 
shall  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed.^ ^  The  apostle 
James  describes  the  rule  of  a  believer's  obedience  as  "  the  per- 
fect law  of  liberty,^ ^  and  expatiates  upon  the  blessedness  of  the 
man  who,  in  heart  and  deed,  is  conformed  to  it.     Christians  are 


74  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

temples  of  the  Holy  Gliost,  and  "  where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
is,  there  is  liberty. ' ' 

Still,  perhaps,  it  seems  a  mystery  that  men  should  be  /ree, 
while  yet  they  are  under  a  sacred  and  imperative  obligation  to 
' '  serve  the  Lord  Christ. ' '  But  what  ^s  liberty  in  any  true 
and  practical  sense  of  the  word?  It  is  not  unbridled  license  to 
do  whatever  caprice,  interest,  or  passion  may  impel  us  to  do. 
It  is  freedom  from  oppression  and  compulsion,  and  is  all  the 
more  perfect  and  secure  because  it  is  regulated,  defined,  and  de- 
fended by  laws  and  constitutions  which  are  supreme  over  all  in- 
dividual wills. 

As  American  citizens  are  we  not  free?  Liberty  is  our  boast 
and  glory :  and  yet  every  one  of  us  is  subject  to  the  authority 
of  laws  which  we  dare  not  violate,  even  if  we  were  disposed  to. 
We  obey  "every  ordinance  of  man  for  wrath  or  for  conscience' 
sake,"  even  though  it  may  not  be  wise  or  just,  and  yet  we  ac- 
count ourselves  a  free  people. 

The  Christian's  liberty  resembles  this,  but  is  far  more  perfect. 
The  law  to  which  he  is  subject,  is  "  holy,  and  just,  and  good,'' 
insomuch  that  his  obedience  to  it,  in  every  jot  and  particular,  is 
promotive  of  his  well-being  and  happiness.  Furthermore,  it  is 
not  engraven  on  tables  of  stone,  nor  printed  in  statute  books, 
but  ' '  wi'itten' '  on  the  fleshly  tables  of  the  heart,  and  in  the  ex- 
perience of  every  believer,  is  ' '  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in 
Christ  Jesus,"  making  him  "free  from  the  law  of  sin  and 
death."  He  loves  it  and  obeys  it  from  choice,  moved  thereto 
not  by  the  fear  of  threatened  perdition,  but  by  gratitude  and 
love  for  a  present  and  promised  salvation. 

And  what  the  Scriptures  represent  concerning  the  nature  (if 
the  yoke  worn  by  the  disciples  of  Christ,  is  found  true  in  their 
actual  experience.     They  bear  it  "with  delight."     They  would 


lY.]  BEARING  THE  YOKE  IN  YOUTH.  75 

not,  if  they  might,  be  released  from  it.  If  it  were  taken  off, 
they  would  put  their  necks  under  it  again,  the  next  moment. 
They  are  all  in  sympathy  with  him  who  cried — "  0  Lord,  truly 
I  am  thy  servant,  and  the  son  of  thy  handmaid :  thou  hast 
loosed  my  bonds." 

The  suggestions  now  offered  are  sufficient,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
if  they  were  duly  attended  to,  to  remove  the  prejudice  and  mis- 
apprehension which  exist  in  the  minds  of  men,  and  particularly 
in  those  of  the  young,  in  regard  to  religion.  It  is  not  the  yoke 
of  bondage  which  they  take  it  to  be,  but  the  easy  and  pleasant 
service  which  a  ransomed  sinner  and  renewed  soul  renders  to  the 
glorious  Redeemer  whom  he  adores  and  loves. 

II.  And  if  this  be  so,  it  goes  far  to  prove  the  ti-uth  of  the 
proposition  laid  down  in  the  text : — "It  is  good  for  a  man  that 
he  bear  the  yoke  in  his  youth." 

It  is  good  for  a  man  to  bear  it  at  any  time,  even  though  it  were 
in  his  old  age,  and  in  the  decay  of  all  his  powers.  If  he  had 
but  the  last  of  his  threescore  and  ten  years  to  live,  it  would  be 
good  to  put  his  neck  under  Christ's  yoke,  for  that  short  period. 
But  while  this  is  true,  it  is  not  the  thing  which  is  said  in  the 
text :  nor  is  there  any  such  thing  said  in  express  terms,  any- 
where in  Scripture.  And  that,  my  friends,  is  a  very  significant 
and  solemn  fact — a  silence  of  the  Scriptures  quite  as  impressive 
as  their  utterances !  From  the  Bible  we  gather,  that  all  sin- 
ners, and  therefore  old  ones,  may  be  converted  and  saved,  but 
we  are  not  thus  left  to  infer  from  general  principles,  the  relation 
which  the  young  sustain  to  the  service  and  salvation  of  Grod. 

On  this  subject,  revelation  is  explicit  and  full,  and  here  is  one 
of  its  blessed  oracles:  "  It  is  good  for  a  man  that  he  bear  the 
yoke  in  his  youth.' ^  It  is  good  for  any,  for  all,  but  pre-emi- 
nently good  for  the  young.     This  is  the  precise  truth  announced. 


76  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

It  is  good  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  It  is  morally  good, 
right  in  the  sight  of  God.  It  meets  the  approbation  of  con- 
science, of  heaven,  and  of  all  good  men :  and  it  is  good  in  the 
sense  of  being  henefidal.  It  promotes  the  welfare  and  happi- 
ness of  men  to  bear  the  yoke  of  Christian  service,  and  especially 
to  bear  it  in  their  youth : — and  for  this  there  are  some  special 
reasons;  and 

1.  It  zs  easier  then  than  afterwards,  to  be  hroken  in  to  the  yoke 
of  CJirist.  The  animals  which  serve  us  with  submissive  meek- 
ness and  docility,  are  ' '  broken ' '  and  trained  to  the  harness  and 
the  yoke  while  young.  If  suffered  to  run  at  large  unbridled  and 
untamed  till  they  have  grown  old,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  sub- 
due them.  If  done  at  all,  it  is  accomplished  with  great  diffi- 
culty, and  they  are  seldom  or  never  brought  to  the  perfect  sub- 
jection and  usefulness  which  are  attained  by  an  earlier  training. 

A  bullock  "unaccustomed  to  the  yoke,"  till  he  has  grown 
strong  and  stubborn,  is  a  true  type  of  the  sinner,  who  has 
*'h^j*dened  his  neck"  against  the  authority  and  restraints  of 
religion,  till  he  has  grown  gray  in  the  indulgence  of  his  own  will, 
and  in  the  practice  of  iniquity.  His  conversion  and  salvation 
are  not  impossible,  but  are  commonly  effected  with  a  peculiar 
difficulty  and  severity  of  discipline.  And  after  he  is  fairly  yoked 
as  a  disciple  of  Christ,  he  does  not  usually  draxo  with  that  stea- 
diness and  strength,  or  with  ease  to  himself  and  pleasantness  to 
others,  which  characterize  those  who  from  childhood  were 
"trained  up  in  the  way  they  should  go." 

Youth  is  the  time  for  education  and  discipline.  The  young 
mind  and  heart  is  docile  and  plastic — readily  taking  on  the  forms 
which  the  moulds  about  it  impress. 

It  is  then  that  principles  are  deeply  rooted,  habits  firmly 
fixed,  and  the  powers  of  nature  developed  in  almost  any  required 


IV.]  BEARING  THE  YOKE  IN  YOUTH.  77 

direction.  True  in  general,  this  is  pre-eminently  so  of  religion. 
It  is  the  highest  education  and  the  noblest  development  of  man. 
It  implants  the  strfngest  as  well  as  the  holiest  principles  in  the 
heart,  and  forms  the  soul  to  habits  of  piety  and  virtue,  which 
become  so  entirely  a  ' '  second  nature, ' '  that  what  may  have  been 
felt  at  first,  as  a  cross  and  a  yoke,  is  borne  without  the  conscious- 
ness of  pain  or  difficulty.  Comparatively  speaking,  it  is  easy  to 
become  a  Christian  in  childhood  and  youth :  though  even  then, 
it  requires  the  exertion  of  omnipotent  grace. 

If  this  favoured  season  is  suffered  to  go  by  without  improve- 
ment, the  probabilities  of  conversion  rapidly  diminish,  and  in 
old  age — if  we  should  live  to  see  it — there  is  almost  an  impossi- 
bility of  salvation.  Such  is  the  representation  of  Scripture. 
When  the  Ethiopian  can  change  his  skin,  and  the  leopard  his 
spots,  then  those  who  have  been  accustomed  to  do  evil,  may 
learn  to  do  well. 

It  is  a  fact  that  cannot  be  too  often  repeated,  or  too  solemnly 
pondered,  that  an  overwhelming  majority  of  all  who  ever  are 
converted,  begin  to  bear  the  yoke  of  Christ  in  their  youth! 
Here  and  there,  now  and  then,  a  gray- haired  sinner  like  Manas- 
seh,  is  made  a  monument  of  redeeming  love,  but  the  cases  are 
so  few  as  to  be  manifestly  exceptional,  while  hosts  of  young 
Samuels,  Josiahs,  and  Timothys,  Ruths  and  Marys,  rise  up 
to  show  the  love  that  Grod  hath  to  the  young,  and  the  greater 
readiness  with  which  the  youthful  heart  yields  to  the  loving  im- 
portunities of  the  gospel. 

2.  A  second  reason  and  proof  of  the  proposition  laid  down  in 
the  text,  exists  in  the  peeuUar  usefulness  which  is  attained  by 
those  who  bear  the  yoke  of  Christ  in  their  youth. 

Enlisting  early,  they  have  more  time  to  serve  under  the  Cap- 
tain of  salvation.  Those  who  enter  the  vineyard  at  the  devenih 
7  * 


78  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

hour,  may  be  useful  and  accepted  labourers,  but  they  accom- 
plished little  in  comparison  with  others  who  begin  their  work  in 
the  morning,  consecrating  to  it  "  the  dew  of  their  youth,"  and 
the  best  energies  of  their  meridian  years. 

And  besides  the  length  of  time  employed,  these  have  oppor- 
tunity of  becoming  trained  and  disciplined  in  the  school  of 
Christ  for  increasing  usefulness ;  while  those  converted  late  in 
life  find  their  habits  so  firmly  rooted,  that  they  are  unable  to 
adapt  themselves  to  their  new  circumstances,  or  at  least  expe- 
rience great  difiiculty  in  doing  so,  and  always  labour  at  great 
disadvantage.  And,  in  addition  to  this,  there  is  a  peculiar 
charm  in  youthful  piety  which  tells  with  saving  effect  on  the 
hearts  of  men.  When  the  heart  is  full  of  the  new  joy  of  exist- 
ence, buoyant  with  hope,  and  running  out  on  every  side  to  em- 
brace the  delights  which  a  benignant  Providence  has  prepared, 
how  beautiful  and  how  precious  the  offering  which  is  presented 
to  God,  when  this  fresh  and  youthful  spirit  yields  itself  to  the 
sweet  and  sovereign  sway  of  Jesus  Christ ! 

Upon  those  who  have  passed  through  this  summer  season  of 
gracious  visitation  without  effectual  attention  to  the  soul's  con- 
cerns, how  startling  the  impression  of  such  a  spectacle!  And 
with  what  soft  and  sympathetic  persuasion  does  it  draw  those 
of  their  own  age ! 

"The  young  love  to  follow  the  young,"  and  often  has  it  hap- 
pened that  the  conversion  of  a  young  man  or  a  young  woman 
has  been  the  means  of  awaking  conviction  in  the  heart  of  a  com- 
panion, and  drawing  him  to  the  same  blessed  choice  and  conse- 
cration. Tf  an  aged  person,  who  visibly  stands  on  the  verge  of 
life,  is  converted,  men  think  that  religion  is  a  very  proper  and 
necessary  thing  in  one  so  circumstanced,  and  quietly  make  up 
their  minds  to  defer  the  matter  till  they  are  in  like  need.     But 


IV.]  BEARING  THE  YOKE  IN  YOUTH.  70 

when  a  youth  bows  his  neck  to  Jesus,  this  speaks  a  difFeicnt 
lesson.  It  proclaims  that  religion  is  as  good  in  life  as  it  is  in 
death,  as  necessary  in  time  as  in  eternity. 

In  the  former  case,  it  is  looked  on  as  a  necessary  evil  to  which 
one  is  compelled  to  submit ;  in  the  latter,  as  a  blessing  which 
we  are  glad  to  embrace. 

Bow  to  Jesus,  my  young  friends,  and  thus  shall  you  save 
yourselves  and  those  who  are  influenced  by  your  example  :  and 
giving  your  whole  life  to  Him  who  redeemed  you,  you  will  be 
spared  the  bitter  regrets  on  a  dying-bed  which  many  have  ex- 
pressed? 

3.  A  third  consideration  going  to  prove  the  truth  and  illus- 
trate the  sense  of  the  text,  is  the  peculiar  happiness  which  youth- 
ful piety  never  fails  to  secure  to  its  possessor.  This  thought, 
somewhat  involved  in  what  has  gone  before,  deserves  more  ex- 
press mention.  Religious  experience,  ever  pleasant  and  satis- 
factory, is  peculiarly  so  in  the  young.  The  natural  joyousncss 
of  the  youthful  heart,  when  sanctified  by  the  grace  of  God,  and 
having  infused  into  it  the  element  of  spiritual  delight,  is  such  a 
pure  and  perfect  bliss,  as  renders  every  unhallowed  pleasure  in- 
sipid, and  imparts  unknown  endearment  and  sweetness  to  those 
which  are  lawful  and  innocent.  Love-tokens  of  peculiar  pre- 
ciousness  does  God  give  to  those  who  ' '  remember  their  Creator 
in  the  days  of  their  youth. ' '  Of  such  He  declares — ' '  I  love  them 
that  love  me:  and  those  that  seek  me  early  shall  find  me." 
These,  above  others,  find  that  "wisdom's  ways  are  ways  of 
pleasantness. ' '  For  every  earthly  and  simple  gratification  which 
they  surrender,  God  opens  a  fountain  of  ' '  holy  delight' '  incom- 
parably better,  and  all  things  in  nature,  providence,  and  re- 
demption, are  commissioned  to  minister  peace  and  pleasure  to 
the  new-born  soul. 


80  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

The  experience  of  President  Edwards,  who  was  converted 
while  a  young  man,  has  been  substantially  reproduced  in  many 
a  youthful  heart.     It  is  given  in  his  own  words : 

"The  appearance  of  every  thing  was  altered;  there  seemed 
to  be,  as  it  were,  a  calm,  beautiful  appearance  of  divine  gloiy  in 
almost  every  thing.  God's  excellency,  his  wisdom,  his  purity 
and  love  seemed  to  appear  in  every  thing ;  in  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars ;  in  the  clouds  and  blue  sky ;  in  the  grass,  flowers, 
and  trees ;  in  the  water,  and  in  all  nature,  which  used  greatly  to 
fix  my  mind.  I  often  used  to  sit  and  view  the  moon  for  a  long 
time ;  and  in  the  day  spent  much  time  in  viewing  the  clouds 
and  sky,  to  behold  the  glory  of  God  in  these  things ;  in  the 
meantime  singing  forth,  with  a  low  voice,  my  contemplations  of 
the  Creator  and  Redeemer. ' ' 

This  surely  is  heavenly  happiness,  and  now,  by  the  promise 
of  the  "peace  which  passeth  all  understanding,"  and  the  "joy 
that  is  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory,"  I  exhort  you  to  come  to 
Jesus  and  be  blessed.  Take  his  yoke  upon  you,  for  it  is  good 
for  a  man  that  he  bear  this  yoke  in  his  youth. 

4.  On  this  theme  of  wide  extent,  I  only  add,  in  conclusion, 
that  early  piety  prepares  for  an  early  death,  if  such  should  be  the 
ordering  of  God's  providence. 

For  the  reasons  already  mentioned,  "the  fear  of  the  Lord 
would  be  the  beginning  of  wisdom"  to  each  of  you,  my  young 
friends,  if  you  had  a  revelation  from  God  that  your  days  would 
be  prolonged  half  a  century.  But  you  have  no  such  revelation, 
nor  any  sure  defence  against  an  early  death.  The  bloom  on 
your  cheek,  the  bounding  pulsations  of  your  heart,  the  elasticity 
of  your  step,  do  not  assure  you  that  in  one  short  week  you  will 
not  be  sleeping  in  your  graves.  ^lany  and  touching  examples 
prove  this  to  be  true :  and  in  the  death,  not  less  than  the  con- 


IV.]  BEARINa  THE  YOKE  IN  YOUTH.  81 

version  of  the  young,  God  calls  you  to  the  service  and  salvation 
of  his  Son.  For  you  they  sicken,  and  for  you  they  die.  Oh, 
let  not  the  dear-bought  lesson  be  lost  on  any  of  you !  ' '  Seek 
the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found,  call  upon  him  while  he  is 
near."  And  be  ye  therefore  ready  also,  "for  in  such  an  hour 
as  ye  think  not,  the  Son  of  man  cometh. ' ' 


TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [ScF. 


SERMON  V. 

HARVEST  TIME  NEGLECTED. 

Jeremiah  viii.  20. — The  harvest  is  past,  the  summer  is  ended, 
and  we  are  not  saved. 

The  pathos  of  Jeremiah's  lament  over  the  sorrows  and  perils 
of  his  country  and  of  the  church  of  God,  is  scarcely  exceeded  by 
anything  in  Scripture.  Loyal  devotion  to  the  land  of  his  birth, 
and  fervent  zeal  for  the  honour  of  religion,  glowed  in  his  heart, 
and  in  view  of  the  impending  and  visible  calamities  from  which 
there  was  now  no  escape,  called  forth  these  melting  expressions 
of  pious  and  patriotic  grief.     The  case  was  desperate. 

Already  he  saw  the  invading  host  of  the  Chaldeans ;  the 
"snorting  of  their  horses  was  heard  from  Dan,  and  the  whole 
land  trembled  at  the  sound  of  the  neighing  of  their  strong  ones. ' ' 
In  their  previous  history,  Israel  had  ofttimes  been  exposed  to 
like  dangers ;  but  through  the  intervention  of  judges,  prophets, 
and  kings,  had  been  brought  to  repentance,  and  had  thus  ob- 
tained deliverance.  In  signal  instances,  God  had  directly  inter- 
posed to  break  the  yoke  of  their  oppressors,  and  to  defeat  the 
hostile  designs  of  their  heathenish  foes.  But  in  the  prophet's 
estimation,  their  present  case  was  not  of  this  character,  and  fell 
under  a  different  law.  It  appeared  to  him  to  be  without  remedy : 
and  this  not  because  the  enemy  was  so  powerful  and  so  near. 


v.]  HARVEST  TIME  NEGLECTED.  83 

The  situation  was  not  so  threatening  as  in  the  days  of  Heze- 
kiah,  when  Sennacherib,  king  of  Assyria;  was  encamped  before 
the  gates  of  Jerusalem,  with  a  mighty  host  of  warriors.  On  all 
grounds  of  mere  human  and  worldly  calculation,  there  was  no 
prospect  or  possibility  of  deliverance :  but  this  vital  difference 
then  existed.  The  king  and  his  people  had  access  to  God. 
They  had  recently  reformed  his  worship,  and  returned  to  the 
observance  of  his  ordinances  and  his  law.  With  a  clear  con- 
science and  a  strong  faith,  Hezekiah  spread  the  case  before  the 
Lord,  and  sent  a  message  to  Isaiah  the  prophet,  saying,  ' '  This 
is  a  day  of  trouble  and  rebuke  and  blasphemy — wherefore  lift 
up  thy  prayer  for  the  remnant  that  is  left."  At  once  an  answer 
of  peace  was  given,  and  the  same  night  an  angel  of  God,  with 
invisible  hand,  destroyed  the  arm  of  flesh  in  which  his  enemies 
had  trusted.  Here  was  an  example  most  encouraging,  for  Jere- 
miah to  imitate.  But  he  seems  to  be  without  hope.  Instead 
of  praying,  he  only  weeps,  and  vents  his  sorrow  in  touching  la- 
mentations over  calamities  which  were  now  inevitable. 

But  why  inevitable  ?  Not  because  their  Almighty  deliverer 
was  less  able  to  succour  and  save,  but  because  Israel  had  sinned 
against  him  in  such  a  manner,  and  for  so  long  a  time,  and  up  to 
such  a  point  of  aggravation,  that  he  would  not,  and  according 
to  his  established  methods  of  dealing  with  men,  could  not, 
interfere,  to  save  them  from  evils  which  were  of  their  own  pro- 
curing. Hence  the  prophet  sought  in  vain  for  any  ground  of 
hope  or  source  of  consolation.  "When,"  says  he,  "I  would 
comfort  myself  against  sorrow,  my  heart  is  faint  in  me  : ' '  and 
that  which  in  particular  distressed  him,  was  the  thought  that 
these  terrible  and  destructive  judgments  might  have  been 
averted  by  timely  repentance,  and  were  now  become  certain, 
only  through  the  thoughtless  and  wicked  unbelief  of  Israel.     A 


84  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

day  of  merciful  visitation  liad  been  afforded,  but  instead  of  fill- 
ing it  up  with  works  of  piety,  and  virtue,  they  had  spent  it  in 
self-indulgence,  and  now  they  must  take  the  consequences  of 
their  folly  and  wickedness.  "The  harvest  is  past,  the  sum- 
mer is  ended,  and  they  are  not  saved." 

The  parallel  between  the  circumstances  of  the  Jewish  people, 
and  the  condition  of  men  who  have  sinned  away  their  day  of 
grace,  is  so  obvious  that  this  passage  which  bewails  the  hopeless 
misery  of  Israel,  has  been  commonly  applied  to  the  latter  sub- 
ject ;  and  it  suggests  to  the  mind  of  almost  every  one  who  reads 
or  hears  it,  this  high  and  solemn  application.  That  its  primary 
and  intended  reference  was  to  a  temporal  deliverance,  and 
not  to  a  spiritual  and  eternal  salvation,  there  is  little  or  no  rea- 
son to  doubt,  and  we  are  not  in  any  such  need  of  proof-texts  as 
to  be  even  tempted  to  press  this  into  a  service  which  it  was 
never  meant  to  perform. 

All  we  want  and  design  to  use,  is  the  principle  it  recognizes, 
of  a  probation  allotted  to  men,  in  which  they  act  a  part  that 
tells  influentially  and  for  ever  on  their  condition :  a  "  summer ' ' 
in  which  they  may  lay  up  in  store  a  good  foundation  against  the 
winter  of  their  necessity;  a  "harvest"  season,  whose  brief  and 
earnest  reaping  may  garner  fruit  unto  life  eternal.  The  point  of  view 
from  which  it  is  regarded  in  the  text  is  one,  which,  through  the 
mercy  of  God,  we  have  not  yet  reached,  and  the  only  possible  rea- 
son we  could  have  for  carrying  you  forward  to  it  in  thought  is  to 
prevent  you  ever  coming  to  it  in  fact.  To  look  back  with  vain  re- 
grets, and  keen  remorse,  on  opportunities  unimproved,  time  mis- 
spentjfaculties  and  powers  unemployed  and  undeveloped,  and  above 
all,  to  survey,  from  the  verge  of  our  earthly  existence,  a  whole  life 
that  has  failed  of  the  very  end  and  object  of  our  creation,  is  tlie 
saddest  of  all  i)Ossible  experiences.     In  apprehension  and  fear  of 


v.]  HARVEST  TIME  NEGLECTED.  85 

such  a  dreadful  failure,  let  us  dwell  for  a  little,  on  the  nature  and 
characteristics  of  the  harvest-time  and  summer  season  which  (Jod 
affords  us  for  the  purpose  of  our  salvation ;  the  liability  and  temp- 
tation we  are  under  to  let  it  pass  without  improvement ;  and  the 
extreme  and  remediless  misery  of  those  who  yield  to  this  tempta- 
tion, living  for  another  purpose  than  that  which  God  designs. 

In  the  mercy  of  Heaven,  we  have  a  season  of  gracious 
visitation — a  period  of  wondrous  possibilities  and  blessed  oppor- 
tunities— a  portion  of  our  immortal  existence,  in  which  a  briel" 
fidelity  insures  unending  bliss,  or  an  equally  short  neglect  of 
duty  leads  to  incurable  and  everlasting  sorrow. 

This  probation,  we  say,  is  given  to  men  in  mercy.  It  was 
goodness  in  God  to  put  the  angels  on  trial,  for  a  limited  period 
after  their  creation,  instead  of  keeping  them  for  ever  on  a  foot- 
ing of  trial,  and,  of  course,  of  uncertainty,  being  liable  to  fall 
and  perish,  as  a  part  of  them  did.  It  was  goodness  that  or- 
dained the  probation  of  Eden,  which,  though  it  involved  the 
possibility  of  a  fearful  lapse,  limited  the  possibility  to  a  narrow 
space,  and  gave  the  opportunity  of  securing  a  holy  and  happy 
life  by  the  obedience  of  an  hour,  and  fidelity  in  a  single  instance. 

If  it  was  love  to  his  creatures  which  moved  God  to  give  them 
a  probation  in  then*  estate  of  holiness  for  its  confirmation  and 
perpetuity,  it  is  nothing  short  of  tender  and  infinite  mercy  that 
assigns  to  fallen  and  condemned  sinners  a  state  and  period  of 
gracious  trial  for  their  recovery  and  salvation.  Our  natural 
condition — "by  nature  children  of  wrath" — is  that  of  creatures 
who  have  failed  under  a  previous  probation,  and  who  might  be 
justly  left  to  suffer  the  consequences  of  that  old  forfeiture.  To 
such  it  is  that  God,  in  the  riches  of  his  grace,  gives  a  new  trial 
under  the  gospel  and  through  Jesus  Christ.  The  first  trial  in 
paradise  was  given  to  man  as  a  creature ;  the  second  is  given 


86  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

liim  as  a  sinner,  and  is  accompanied  with  abundant  indications 
and  express  statements  of  its  being  the  last  he  will  ever  know. 
Its  essential  idea,  as  is  that  of  all  probation,  whether  on  princi- 
ples of  law  or  principles  of  grace,  is  that  the  fleeting  present 
may  be  made  to  govern  the  unchangeable  and  eternal  future ; 
that  a  little  portion  of  our  existence  at  its  beginning  shall  stand 
in  such  a  connexion  of  influence  and  power  with  what  remains, 
as  to  determine  its  character,  whether  of  weal  or  woe,  and  that 
thus  all  possible  motions  to  well-doing  should  converge  upon 
the  manner  of  life  we  lead  while  in  the  flesh.  That  this  method 
of  dealing  with  voluntary  agents  and  responsible  creatures  has 
its  foundations  laid  deep  in  the  principles  of  God's  moral  and 
natural  government  we  know,  from  finding  that  life,  in  all  its 
relations  and  interests,  is  subject  to  its  control.  The  general 
laws  by  which  the  world  is  governed,  are  a  continual  discipline 
and  probation  of  mankind.  They  create  "times  and  seasons" 
for  every  purpose  under  the  sun ;  times  and  seasons  when  that 
purpose  may  be  accomplished,  but  carry  for  ever  away  in  their 
flight  the  possibility  of  doing  the  work,  or  securing  the  advan- 
tage which  belonged  to  them. 

Such  a  law  is  that  of  the  seasons,  to  which  the  text  has  refer- 
ence. The  image  presented  is  that  of  a  field  of  grain  ready  for 
the  sickle.  Like  the  field  for  spiritual  husbandry,  of  which  the 
Saviour  spoke,  it  "  is  white  already  to  harvest."  For  months 
it  has  been  maturing ;  through  all  vicissitudes  of  weather  it  has 
advanced  to  its  present  point  of  peculiar  interest  and  critical 
importance.  It  is  now  not  only  ready  to  be  gathered,  but  im- 
peratively requires  the  reaper's  toil.  A  few  days,  or,  at  most, 
a  few  weeks  of  neglect,  and  it  utterly  perishes ;  and  -v^^th  it  is 
lost  the  blessing  which  the  kindness  and  care  of  Providence  had 
placed  within  the  farmer's  grasp.     Time  may  come  to  him  after- 


v.]  HARVEST  TIME  NEGLECTED.  87 

wards,  but  those  weeks  of  harvest-time  will  never  come  again. 
The  loss  is  irreparable ;  and  cultivators  of  the  earth,  knowing 
this,  make  diligent  improvement  of  this  golden  season- 
When  the  summer  ends,  all  its  opportunities  and  possibilities 
end  with  it.  Such  is  the  law,  fixed  as  the  everlasting  hills,  with 
which  we  have  to  do :  and  of  its  operation  none  have  any  reason 
to  complain,  and  none,  in  fact,  do  complain  but  the  man  who 
violates  it.  The  industrious  and  prudent  husbandman  who, 
when  the  summer  is  ended,  and  the  winter  with  its  desolateness 
has  come,  finds  his  barns  filled  with  plenty,  blesses  the  benefi- 
cent law  of  the  seasons ;  and  only  the  sluggard  complains — and 
he  without  cause — when  he  suffers  the  penalty  of  indolence  and 
folly.  Another  natural  analogy  is  found  in  the  kind  of  relation 
which  exists  between  youth  and  age. 

The  latter  is  what  the  former  makes  it.  The  beginning  of 
life  shapes  its  middle  and  its  end. 

It  is  the  seed-time  in  which  the  germs  of  character  are 
planted ;  the  moulding  period  in  which  habits  take  their  abiding 
shape ;  the  school-days  in  which  the  education  of  our  whole  ex- 
istence is  received.  At  this  plastic  period,  a  month  leaves  deeper 
traces  on  the  character,  than  a  year  of  middle  age,  or  a  score  of 
years  next  the  close  of  life. 

As  the  rivulet,  which  rises  on  the  mountain-top,  takes,  within 
a  little  distance  of  its  source,  the  general  direction  in  which  the 
mighty  river  shall  flow  for  thousands  of  miles,  so  it  is  with  the 
stream  of  human  existence.  The  acts,  the  impulses,  the  inci- 
dents, and  the  influences  which  determine  its  course  and  pre- 
pare its  channel,  are  located  near  its  commencement,  where 
alone  it  is  possible  to  exert  so  great  a  power.  Human  skill  and 
strength  might  control  and  change  the  course  of  a  stream  on  the 
sides  of  the  AUeghanies,  but  what  power  less  than  that  of  Om- 


88  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

nipotence,  could  arrest  the  flow  or  alter  the  direction  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, or  the  Amazon  ?  It  is  the  same  with  the  course  of  hu- 
man character  and  hfe.  Its  beginnings  are  everj^thing.  If  these 
are  in  the  right  direction,  they  ensure  an  endless  career  of  well- 
doing, and  of  happiness  :  but  who  shall  cure  the  fatal  mistake 
of  early  misdirection  ? 

Who  shall  bring  back  to  the  idle  and  truant  school-boy,  who 
has  doomed  himself  to  a  life-long  ignorance,  the  opportunity  of 
education ;  the  leisure  of  childhood,  the  quick  discernment,  the 
tenacious  memory,  the  eager  curiosity,  which  render  the  youth- 
ful mind  susceptible  of  discipline  and  development?  The  thing 
is  naturally  impossible,  and  requires  a  miracle  which  Grod  has 
never  been  known  to  perform. 

A  law  which  thus  operates  in  external  nature,  and  in  human 
life,  yielding  only  beneficial  results  to  those  who  regard  it,  might 
be  presumed  to  have  scope  also  in  the  sphere  of  morals  and  re- 
ligion, and  to  exert  a  decisive  influence  on  the  future  and  eternal 
destiny  of  the  soul.  What  experience  thus  renders  probable, 
revelation  declares  to  be  true :  and  there  is  no  reason  at  all  to 
doubt,  that  the  law  in  question  is  just  as  necessary,  benevolent, 
and  holy,  in  this  last  connexion,  which  we  know  by  faith,  as  in 
the  former  relation,  which  we  know  by  experience.  There  is, 
then,  a  harvest-time,  and  a  summer-season,  in  which  salvation 
may  be  secured,  but  after  which  this  blessed  possibility  is  gone 
for  ever. 

As  youth,  with  its  capabilities  and  freshness,  never  returns  in 
the  life  of  man ;  and  opportunities — the  rare  conjunctures  of  niany 
conditions — once  knock  at  our  door,  and  then  vanish ;  so  the  day 
of  salvation,  the  accepted  time  of  Heaven's  love,  is  of  short  con- 
tinuance. Short,  not  because  that  love  is  small,  but  because  it 
is  great. 


v.]  HARVEST  TIME  NEGLECTED.  89 

Born  and  destined  to  an  existence  wliicli  shall  never  end,  the 
character  of  that  existence,  whether  of  purity  or  of  sin,  and  the 
condition  of  that  existence,  whether  of  happiness  or  misery,  is 
dependent  on  the  hand-breadth,  yea,  in  comparison  with  eternal 
duration,  the  hair-breadth,  of  time  which  we  spend  on  earth ! 
If  this  announcement  startles  you,  and  you  feel  perplexed  in 
your  attempt  to  reconcile  with  Divine  goodness  a  method  of 
procedure  which  leaves  no  room  for  repentance  through  ever- 
lasting ages,  for  a  sin  that  was  committed  in  time,  and  shuts  men 
up  at  the  very  outset  of  their  being  to  the  choice  of  the  path 
they  will  travel  for  ever ; — there  are  two  or  three  things  which 
it  would  be  wise  and  well  to  consider.  If  they  fail  to  give  com- 
plete satisfaction  to  the  understanding,  they  may  at  least  indi- 
cate the  course  of  duty  and  safety.  The  first  suggestion  I  offer 
is,  that  if  such  he  the  law  of  our  condition  there  is  no  manner 
of  use  in  cavilling  at  its  existence.  We  cannot  annul  the  law, 
nor  escape  from  its  operation.  Whether  we  will  or  not,  it  will 
fix  our  condition  in  a  future  life,  according  as  we  improve  or  ne- 
glect present  opportunities.  What  a  wise  man  cannot  alter  or 
remove,  he  conforms  to,  adjusting  his  conduct  to  his  circum- 
stances. There  is  no  advantage  in  quarrelling  with  facts,  or 
struggling  against  necessity.  If  a  man  runs  against  a  natural 
law,  it  will  hurl  him  to  death  with  remorseless  violence. 

And  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt,  but,  on  the  contrary,  many 
reasons  to  believe  that  this  great  moral  law  and  principle  of  a 
short  earthly  probation,  will  deal  in  like  manner  with  those  who 
either  disbeheve  or  despise  it.  It  is  our  wisdom  just  to  accept 
the  conditions  of  life  and  of  salvation  under  which  God  has 
placed  us. 

Another  suggestion,  which  goes  far  to  vindicate  this  feature  of 
the  Divine  government,  and  especially  to  show  its  consistency 


90  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

with  a  dependence  upon  the  mercy  and  goodness  of  Grod,  is  the 
obvious  truth,  that  a  short  'probation  strengthens  and  intensifies^ 
in  proportion  to  its  brevity,  the  motives  and  helps  to  a  holy  life. 

If  the  benumbed  conscience  of  a  sinner  will  ever  awake  from 
its  torpor,  and  the  regard  a  man  has  for  his  own  well-being,  will 
ever  rise  above  the  sphere  of  his  animal  wants  and  earthly  ne- 
cessities, and  entertain  the  question  of  what  is  to  become  of  him 
when  he  goes  to  the  world  of  spirits ;  and  if  in  any  circumstances 
the  fear  of  God  will  stir  the  soul  to  action,  it  must  assuredly  be 
when  men  are  told  that  their  eternal  salvation  depends  upon 
their  manner  of  life  in  these  fleeting  years  of  an  earthly  exist- 
ence !  What  an  amazing  concentration  of  moral  power  does  this 
secure,  and  bring  to  bear  on  heart,  conscience,  reason,  sen- 
sibility ! 

As  the  lens  converges  the  rays  of  light,  and  brings  them  to- 
gether in  a  blazing  focus,  so  does  this  gracious  principle  of  a 
short  probation  for  immortal  creatures  collect  and  pour  upon 
their  souls  "the  powers  of  the  world  to  come" — the  attractive 
influences  of  a  blessed  and  holy  immortality — ^the  flashing  terrors 
of  the  death  that  never  dies !  As  it  is,  delay  is  the  fatal  snare 
of  unwary  souls :  procrastination,  the  commonest  and  deadliest 
of  all  the  sinner's  temptations! 

Even  now,  when  he  knows  that  his  end  is  near,  and  may  be 
at  the  door,  he  says  in  his  heart,  "  My  Lord  delayeth  his  com- 
ing," and  accordingly  resigns  himself  to  carnal  indulgences  and 
the  neglect  of  his  duty,  and  is  surprised  by  the  coming  of  death 
and  judgment  at  an  hour  when  he  thinks  not.  With  what  aug- 
mented power  would  this  temptation  assail  him,  if,  instead  of 
threescore  and  ten,  his  probation  were  ten  thousand  years ;  and  into 
what  a  profound  slumber  of  sensuality  and  ungodliness  would  he 
sink,  if  it  were  known  or  believed  that  the  sins  and  errors  of  the  life 


v.]  HARVEST  TIME  NEGLECTED.  91 

that  now  is  miglit  be  repented  of  and  repaired  in  that  which  is 
to  come !  If  sinful  men  are  ever  to  be  recovered  to  hohness  and 
God,  and  started  on  a  career  of  immortal  happiness,  it  would 
seem  as  if  it  must  be  done  by  bringing  the  whole  power  of  the 
eternal  future  to  bear  upon  the  fleeting  present,  and  causing 
them  to  feel  that  they  are  in  the  crisis  of  their  destiny  every 
moment  of  their  lives.  It  is,  therefore,  not  justice,  but  mercy 
which  gives  to  man  a  probation  on  earth  ;  and  there  is  as  much 
mercy  in  making  it  short,  as  in  granting  it  at  all. 

Our  third  suggestion  on  this  point  regards  the  peculiarly  gra- 
cious nature  of  the  probation  which  men  enjoy  under  tha  dis- 
pensation of  the  gospel,  and  through  the  mediation  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  It  is  gracious  in  its  continuance.  Though  short, 
it  is  long  enough  for  its  purpose.  Life  is  given  to  men  to  se- 
cure an  interest  in  Christ,  to  work  out  their  salvation,  and  it 
affords  ample  time  and  abundant  opportunity.  Some  prosecute 
this  work  for  nearly  a  century :  others  complete  it  in  the  days 
of  their  youth,  and  go  up  to  the  glories  of  heaven  very  soon 
after  they  have  tasted  the  joy  of  salvation. 

To  both,  the  day  of  grace  was  long  enough.  And  not  in  its 
duration  only,  but  with  respect  to  all  those  acts  and  provisions 
on  the  part  of  God,  which  constitute  life  a  harvest  and  a  sum- 
mer with  regard  to  the  future,  it  is  a  day  of  gracious  visita- 
tion. 

You  rejoice  in  the  benignant  care  of  Providence  which  ordains 
the  seasons,  brings,  in  its  time,  the  genial  warmth  of  spring, 
with  its  shining  skies,  its  refreshing  showers,  and  its  balmy  air : 
and  when  you  see  how  earth,  and  clouds,  and  sun,  with  all  their 
subtle  agencies,  conspire  to  make  the  easy  possibility  of  a  har- 
vest, to  any  man  who  heeds  the  suggestion  and  concurs'  in  the 
working  of  the  Creator,  you  feel  an  honest  indignation  at  the 


92  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  I^cr. 

sluggard  who  neglects  to  use  this  kind  and  wonderful  provision 
for  the  supply  of  his  wants  and  the  improvement  of  his  con- 
dition. 

Many  persons  who  perceive  and  appreciate  this,  do  not  see  so 
clearly,  nor  consider  so  well,  that  the  Grod  of  salvation  has  pur- 
sued the  same  method  in  the  sphere  of  man's  spiritual  nature, 
and  encompassed  him  with  ordinances  of  religion  and  means  of 
grace,  which  put  within  his  reach  blessings  of  infinite  worth  and 
eternal  duration.  Just  as  we  incline  to  overlook  the  goodness 
revealed  in  the  greatest  natural  blessings,  such  as  the  light,  the 
air,  and  the  seasons,  because  our  enjoyment  of  them  is  constant: 
so,  from  frequent  repetition  and  its  perpetual  presence,  the  glo- 
rious mystery  of  redemption  which  is  disclosed  in  the  gospel 
and  made  visible  in  the  church,  fails  to  impress  us  with  its  real 
character.  It  seems  a  thing  of  course,  and  so,  a  thing  of  naught. 
Through  this  inconsideration,  men  are  little  aware  how  much 
Grod  has  done  and  is  doing  every  hour  of  their  lives,  to  open  be- 
fore them  a  door  of  hope,  and  give  them  a  day  of  grace. 

As  to  means,  what  more  could  they  have  or  wish  than  those 
already  given ;  the  throne  of  grace,  always  accessible  to  all  sin- 
ners, by  night,  by  day,  at' home,  abroad,  in  the  closet,  or  on  the 
street :  the  Scriptures,  in  the  tongue  wherein  they  were  born, 
revealing  the  mind  of  God  in  terms  and  style  level  to  the  under- 
standing of  a  child,  and  making  the  way  of  life  so  plain  that  the 
wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool,  need  not  err  therein ;  the  Sab- 
bath, returning  every  week  to  break  the  chain  of  worldly 
thoughts,  and  lift  the  soul  to  a  purer  world,  and  lead  it  forward 
to  the  everlasting  rest ;  the  ministry  of  reconciliation,  commis- 
sioned to  offer,  in  Christ's  stead,  salvation  to  sinners,  and  by 
doctrine,  warning,  persuasion,  and  reproof,  beseech  them  to 
accept  it. 


v.]  HARVEST  TIME  NEGLECTED.  93 

And  with  means  and  above  them,  the  mediation  and  interces- 
sion of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  on  his  priestly  throne,  and  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Holy  Spirit,  sent  forth  to  convince  of  sin,  to  convert 
the  soul,  and  reveal  the  Saviour's  glory!  Such  are  the  condi- 
dition  and  surroundings  of  the  sinner  eveiy  day  and  every  hour 
of  his  Kfe-time,  under  the  dispensation  of  heavenly  love.  Is 
it  not  a  day  of  merciful  visitation,  radiant  with  bright  tokens  of 
the  love  of  God? 

But  while  all  its  parts  and  stages  are  precious  opportunities 
of  salvation,  there  are  times  and  seasons  corresponding  to  those 
critical  portions  of  the  natural  year,  in  which  more  may  be  done 
in  a  day  of  seed-sowing,  or  of  harvesting  the  ripe  grain,  than 
during  a  much  longer  period  in  different  circumstances.  Such 
an  auspicious  opportunity  is  the  season  of  youth,  when  the  re- 
ligious sensibilities  exhibit  a  tenderness  which,  if  it  be  trifled 
with  and  resisted,  rapidly  disappears. 

Such  an  occasion  is  the  hour  of  affliction,  when  the  hand  of 
God  presses  heavily  upon  us,  disappointing  our  earthly  hopes, 
or  smiting  the  idol  of  our  affections :  and  such,  peculiarly  and 
pre-eminently,  is  the  time  when  the  Spirit  of  God  is  poured  out 
on  the  church  and  on  our  fellow-sinners,  and,  in  sovereign  love, 
upon  our  own  hearts,  awakening  the  conviction  of  sin,  and  the 
desire  to  be  saved.  This  is  God's  nearest  approach!  the  direct, 
personal,  urgent  persuasion  of  Divine  grace.  It  is  a  moment  of 
unspeakable  solemnity — of  infinite  value!  It  is  the  "  harvest" 
time — the  summer  season — of  an  immortal  existence. 

It  is  in  such  aspects  and  elements  of  our  probation  as  these, 
that  the  evidence  of  God's  love  appears,  and  the  grounds  of  his 
justification  are  finished,  when  he  leaves  the  sinner  who  fails  to 
improve  it  to  the  inevitable  results  of  his  own  folly  and  wicked- 
ness.    And  of  all  conditions  and  experiences,  none  is  more  dis- 


94  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Scr. 

tressing  than  that  of  him  who  at  length  awakes  to  the  f\xct  that 
the  day  of  his  visitation  has  gone,  and,  along  with  others  like 
himself,  takes  up  the  bitter  and  fruitless  plaint:  "The  harvest 
is  past,  the  summer  is  ended,  and  we  are  not  saved."  His  cup 
of  wo  lacks  no  element  of  sorrow.  Worse  than  the  positive  in- 
fliction of  Divine  justice,  is  the  ever  present  memory  of  wasted 
probation  and  a  slighted  Saviour.  He  remembers  the  time 
when  the  door  of  mercy  and  of  heaven,  now  shut,  stood  invit- 
ingly open :  when  celestial  voices  called,  and  Divine  attractions 
drew,  and  his  own  faithful  conscience  urged  him  to  choose  the 
better  part.  He  recurs  to  the  days  of  his  youth,  and  to  seasons 
of  revival,  and  sacred  communions,  when  he  could  scarcely  re- 
frain from  following  his  companions  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
so  pressing  was  the  importunity  of  the  Divine  call :  and  along 
with  this  comes  the  recollection  of  that  fatal  act  and  hour  in 
which  he  put  away  the  offer  of  life,  and  destroyed  for  ever  the 
possibility  of  salvation.  The  conviction  that  he  has  "  destroyed 
himself"  will  penetrate  his  soul,  and  this  will  be  the  acme  of 
his  wretchedness.  The  blame  of  his  perdition  will  settle  eter- 
nally upon  himself.  The  cavils  and  excuses  by  which  this  solemn 
truth  is  now  disguised  will  vanish  in  the  light  of  eternity,  and 
amid  the  stern  realities  of  the  judgment-day.  The  Bible,  the 
church,  the  cross,  the  mercy-seat,  the  Holy  Spirit  will  not  suffer 
him  to  impute  his  ruin  to  Grod,  and  conscience  will  charge  it 
home  upon  himself  with  an  authority  which  he  will  not  even  try 
to  resist. 

Living  men  think  they  will  never  come  to  such  a  condition  as 
this ;  some,  through  unbelief  in  the  reality  of  future  and  eternal 
retribution  ;  others,  and  these  a  great  multitude,  from  the  per- 
suasion that  they  will  make  a  better  improvement  of  that  por- 
tion of  their  day  of  grace  which  remains,  than  of  the  part  which 


V.J  HARVEST  TIME  NEGLECTED.  95 

is  past.  If  you  are  yet  in  your  sins,  I  acknowledge  that  your 
only  hope  of  salvation  depends  on  so  doing ;  but  I  must  remind 
you  that  many,  with  the  same  thought  in  their  hearts,  have 
lived  and  died  in  impenitence.  It  is  one  of  the  commonest 
things  in  the  world,  for  men  not  to  know  their  opportunity.  In 
reference  to  worldly  interests, 

"  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 
Which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune  j" 

but  how  few  discern  the  exact  time,  and  go  up  with  the  swelling 
stream  I  How  often  we  hear  men  regretting  that  they  had  not 
acted  differently  at  some  former  time,  and  in  a  critical  conjuncture ! 
Yet,  in  a  comparative  view,  men  are  keen-sighted  in  reference  to 
secular  concerns.  Notwithstanding  frequent  oversights,  they  are 
wise  in  their  generation  as  men  of  the  world,  but  strangely  bhnd 
to  the  wondrous  opportunity  which  the  mercy  of  Heaven  puts  di- 
rectly in  their  pathway,  and  obtrusively  urges  on  their  attention. 

This,  my  friends,  is  your  greatest  danger.  While  the  hours 
of  your  probation  are  flitting  by,  and 'carrying  up  the  witness  of 
your  continued  unbelief  to  the  book  of  remembrance,  you  are 
seeking  to  quiet  the  fpars  and  silence  the  remonstrance  of  heart 
and  conscience,  by  the  promise  of  acting  a  different  part  at  an- 
other day,  and  making  a  portion  of  your  probation  accomplish 
the  purpose  for  which  the  whole  of  it  is  not  too  much. 

To  act  thus,  in  any  other  connexion,  would  expose  you  to  the 
suspicion  of  insanity,  and  would  be  the  height  of  folly.  It  is 
shatned,  as  the  prophet  teaches  in  the  very  connexion  of  the 
text,  by  the  instinct  of  birds,  and,  according  to  Isaiah,  by  the 
dumbest  of  the  brute  creation.  ' '  Every  one  turned  to  his  course, 
as  the  horse  rusheth  into  the  battle.  Yea,  the  stork  in  the 
heaven  knoweth  her  appointed  times :  and  the  turtle,  and  the 
crane,  and  the  swallow,  observe  the  time  of  their  coming  :  ])iit 


96  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

my  people  know  not  the  judgment  of  the  Lord."  In  fable  and 
history,  the  ass  is  the  symbol  of  stupidity :  but  Grod,  in  the 
importunity  of  his  desire  to  rouse  men  from  the  sleep  of  their 
death-like  torpor,  even  rates  their  folly  below  this  stigmatized 
creature.  "The ox  knoweth  his  owner,  and  the  ass  his  master's 
crib,  but  Israel  doth  not  know  :  my  people  doth  not  consider. " 

One  of  the  most  affecting  incidents  in  the  life  of  our  blessed 
Redeemer  was  occasioned  by  the  exhibition  of  this  folly  carried 
to  its  highest  and  last  degree.  In  point  of  privilege  and  oppor- 
tunity, Jerusalem  was  nearer  to  God  and  heaven  than  any 
other  city  of  earth :  and  the  day  of  its  grace  was  longer  and 
more  precious  than  is  wont  to  be  accorded  to  mortals.  There 
stood  the  temple  in  its  material  glory,  and  there  were  clustered 
the  emblems  and  exponents  of  the  presence  and  grace  of  God. 
To  this  people  had  come  the  prophets  in  long  succession,  and 
now.  He  to  whom  the  prophets  bare  witness.  But  all  in  vain ; 
and  already,  the  vengeful  cloud  of  wrath  is  seen  gathering  over 
the  doomed  city.  Over  this,  it  was,  that  "Jesus  wept,"  and 
while  his  tears  flowed,  exclaimed, — "If  thou  hadst  known,  even 
thou,  at  least  in  this  thy  day,  the  things  which  belong  unto  thy 
peace !  but  now  they  are  hid  from  thine  eyes.  For  the  daj^s 
shall  come  upon  thee,  that  thine  enemies  shall  cast  a  trench 
about  thee,  and  compass  thee  round,  and  keep  thee  in  on  every 
side,  and  shall  lay  thee  even  with  the  ground,  and  thy  chil- 
dren within  thee :  and  they  shall  not  leave  in  thee  one  stone  upon 
another:  because  thou  knewest  not  the  time  of  thy  visitation." 

By  the  errors  and  sufferings  of  others,  be  admonished.  Pro- 
bation may  be  wasted  :  and,  if  you  are  yet  in  your  sins,  there  is 
imminent  danger  of  wasting  yours,  and  of  losing  your  soul.  ' '  Be- 
hold, now  is  the  accepted  time  ;  behold,  now  is  the  day  of  sal- 
vation." 


VI.  1  THE  SIN  OP  NOT  LOVING  CHRIST.  97 


SERMON  VI. 

THE  SIN  OF  NOT  LOVINO  CimiST. 

1  CoR.  xvi.  22. — If  any  man  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  (JJirist,  let 
him  he  Anathema,  31aran-atha. 

These  words  stand  at  the  close  of  one  of  Paul's  longest  epis- 
tles. Without  any  special  relation  to  what  precedes,  they  have 
an  intimate  general  relation  to  the  whole  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
They  give  the  impression  that  a  devout  and  enlightened 
mind  receives  from  the  contemplating  the  glorious  mystery  of 
redeeming  love,  which,  while  it  bestows  on  men  infinite  bless- 
ings, lays  upon  them  unspeakable  responsibilities.  The  passage, 
instead  of  being  weakened  by  want  of  logical  connexion,  is  the 
more  impressive  on  account  of  its  seeming  isolation.  It  was  at 
this  point,  the  venerable  man  of  God  took  the  pen  from  his 
amanuensis,  who  had  been  writing  at  his  dictation,  and,  to  cer- 
tify the  genuineness  of  the  epistle,  appended  the  salutation  with 
his  "  own  hand."  In  three  brief  sentences,  he  gives  his  Chris- 
tian greetings  to  his  brethren,  the  apostolic  benediction  to  the 
church,  and  utters  this  woe  against  every  man  who  loves  not  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  circumstance  that  the  original  words 
were  traced  by  the  apostle's  own  hand,  though  it  does  not  ren- 
der their  truth  more  certain,  nor  invest  them  with  any  higher 
authority,  throws  around  them  a  certain  interest ;  and  the  fact 


98  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [8er. 

of  their  landing  a  place  in  these  few  closing  sentences,  cairies 
with  it  an  impression  of  their  pre-eminent  importance. 

But  why  gather  extrinsic  proofs  when  the  passage  shines  in 
its  own  effulgent  light  ?  Without  comment  or  illustration,  its 
clear,  simple,  solemn  meaning  goes  right  to  the  heart  and  con- 
science :  and  even  those  foreign  and  untranslated  words  at  its 
close,  are  sufficiently  illuminated  by  what  precedes,  to  assure  us 
that  they  can  mean  nothing  less,  or  else,  than  something  most 
terrible  and  awful.  In  approaching  a  theme  like  this,  it  is 
vastly  important  that  we  should  be  governed  by  the  same  spirit 
which  influenced  the  apostle  in  penning  the  text.  Though  he 
uttered  a  fearful  truth — in  fact,  pronounced  a  malediction,  he 
did  not  dip  his  pen  in  wormwood  and  gall  to  write  it,  nor  was 
there  one  drop  of  bitterness  in  his  spirit. 

It  was  said  with  the  same  melting  compassion  for  souls,  in 
which,  at  another  time,  he  said  that  he  "Could  wish  himself 
Anathema  from  Christ,  for  his  brethren,"  if  such  a  sacrifice  were 
either  useful  or  admissible.  It  was  spoken  from  the  stand-point 
of  one  who  was  labouring  to  save  sinners  from  the  curse  of  God, 
not  from  that  of  one  sitting  upon  a  throne  of  judgment,  and 
allotting  to  men  the  award  of  final  retribution.  In  this  temper 
of  humility  and  tenderness,  let  us  now  endeavour  to  handle  and 
heed  the  subject  before  us.  It  breathes  love,  yet  speaks  of 
wrath.  Its  power  as  a  warning,  depends  on  the  terrors  of  the 
Anathema  denounced  against  "  any  man"  who  commits  the  sin, 
and  bears  the  character,  and  stands  in  the  relation  to  Christ, 
which  is  here  expressed.  Though  the  case  is  put  contingently, 
it  is  not  because  it  never  had  occurred,  in  fact,  and  was  only 
possible  in  the  future.  It  is  an  expression  like  that  of  the  apos- 
tle John,  when  to  introduce  and  commend  the  intercession  of 
Jesus  Christ,  he  puts  an  "if"  before  the  universal  fact  of  hu- 


VL]  THE  SIN  OF  NOT  LOVING  CHRIST.  99 

man  sinfulness — "  If  any  man  sin,  we  have  an  advocate  with  the 
Father, ' '  where  the  logical  supposition  is  really  the  positive  as- 
sertion of  a  well-knoWn  fact.  Thus,  when  the  apostle  speaks 
conditionally  of  any  man's  not  loving  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  it 
does  not  imply  that  such  characters  had  not  yet  appeared  in  the 
world,  or  were  barely  possible  to  exist. 

The  truth  is  quite  the  reverse  :  and  there  is  no  sort  of  injus- 
tice or  impropriety  in  saying  of  some  persons  that  they  do  not 
love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  They  do  not  profess  to.  They  ad- 
mit the  fact,  and  what  is  more,  in  making  the  admission,  they 
do  not  feel  as  if  they  had  confessed  a  deadly  crime. 

Others,  however,  may  join  issue  on  the  question  of  fact ;  and, 
before  proceeding  to  illustrate  the  wickedness  of  not  loving 
Christ,  we  may  advert  to  some  of  the  indications  that  no  such 
affection  has  place  in  the  soul.  Without  intending  so  much, 
men  often  acknowledge  this  to  be  the  case.  When  a  man  says 
that  he  feels  no  particular  interest  in  the  subject  of  personal  re- 
ligion ;  that  he  thinks  of  it  at  times,  and  expects  to  give  it  more 
consideration  in  future,  the  true  rendering  of  all  this  is,  that  he 
does  not  love  Christ ;  but,  since  to  confess  this  in  words,  would 
be  to  let  out  a  startling  and  fearful  truth,  it  is  softened  by  cir- 
cumlocution and  qualified  phrases.  Want  of  love  to  Jesus  is 
the  meaning  of  every  excuse  for  the  neglect  of  religion,  and  the 
root  of  that  entire  life  of  prayerless  impotency  which  multitudes 
lead.  And  there  are  those,  no  doubt,  who,  shocked  at  the  utter 
depravity  of  having  no  love  at  all  for  such  a  person  as  Christ, 
persuade  themselves  that  their  hearts  are  not  wholly  destitute 
of  the  feeling.  A  dim  and  shadowy  image  of  his  Divine-human 
perfection  floats  before  their  minds,  and  they  admire  it.  They 
listen  to  the  precepts  of  his  heavenly  morality,  and  their  con- 
science assents  to  them  as  good.     They  read  the  record  of  his 


100  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

pure  and  blameless  life ;  liis  unselfisli  devotion  to  the  relief  and 
salvation  of  suffering  humanity ;  and  when  they  gaze  upon  the 
mysterious  sorrows  and  sublime  heroism  o"^  his  last  hours,  their 
sensibilities  are  touched,  and  they  accord  him  the  praise  of  a 
philanthropist  and  a  martyr :  and  this  they  bring  forward  to 
qualify,  if  not  to  refute  the  accusation  of  being  without  love  to 
him.  But  what  is  there  in  it  all,  more  or  different  than  the  ad- 
miration which  men  feel  in  reading  the  history  and  listening  to 
the  wisdom  of  Socrates,  or  the  emotion  awakened  by  the  virtue 
and  the  sufferings  of  any  of  those  martyrs  to  the  cause  of  human 
rights  and  liberty  who  are  immortalized  in  the  pages  of  the 
world's  history?  Nay,  I  might  even  ask,  How  much  does  it 
rise  above  that  sentimental  admiration  of  virtue  and  sympathy 
with  suffering  which  is  often  lavished  on  the  heroes  of  a  fictitious 
story?  To  admire  virtue  is  a  very  different  thing  from  practis- 
ing it,  and  to  approve  what  Christ  has  said,  and  done,  and  suf- 
fered, falls  infinitely  short  of  that  adoring  and  clinging  love  to 
his  glorious  Person  which  the  apostle  intends,  and  which  is  the 
beginning,  the  middle,  and  the  end  of  personal  religion.  The 
Christian  who  claims  this  love  is  not  a  doctrine,  or  a  fact,  or  an 
example  which  belongs  to  the  history  of  a  past  age,  but  a  living 
and  Divine  person  who  sustains  to  us  the  most  intimate  and  sa- 
cred relations — coming  to  us  as  really  and  directly  as  to  Simon 
Peter,  at  the  sea  of  G-alilee,  with  the  home-thrusting  inquiry — 
"Lovest  thou  me?"  The  nature  and  the  reality  of  the  love  are 
determined  by  the  nature,  the  character,  and  the  claims  of  Him 
to  whom  it  is  due.  The  love  in  question  is  that  which  right- 
fully belongs  to  our  incarnate  God  and  Saviour.  It  is  not  a  su- 
perficial and  fruitless  sentiment  of  admiration  for  something  He 
has  said,  or  something  he  has  done,  but  it  is  an  adoring  reve- 
rence for  his  Divine  Majesty,  a  complacent  delight  in  his  spotless 


VI.]  THE  SIN  OF  NOT  LOVING  CHRIST.  101 

purity,  a  confiding  dependence  on  his  truth  and  grace,  and  such 
a  grateful  sense  of  his  redeeming  mercy  to  the  soul  as  "con- 
strains" to  worship,  obey,  and  follow  him!  Is  there  such  a  pas- 
sion in  your  soul?  Be  assured  that  love  to  Christ  is  as  real, 
conscious,  warm,  and  practical  an  affection  as  is  any  other  love, 
and  only  differs  from  our  earthly  loves  by  being  unutterably 
more  profound,  sacred,  and  enduring.  In  the  sense  of  such  an 
affection  as  this,  can  you  say  that  you  do  love  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ?  If  still  you  think  so,  then  let  me  ask  for  the  visible 
and  convincing  proofs  of  its  existence  ;  or,  rather,  let  me  invite 
you  to  reconcile  the  idea  of  its  existence  in  your  heart,  with  cer- 
tain facts  wliich  stand  out  boldly  to  view  in  the  life  of  many  who 
show  outward  respect  to  the  ordinances  and  institutions  of  re- 
ligion. 

The  proverb  says  that ' '  Open  rebuke  is  better  than  secret  love, ' ' 
for  the  reason,  I  presume,  that  love,  which  is  so  secret  as  never 
to  show  itself  in  word  or  deed,  is  presumed  to  have  no  existence,  or, 
at  the  best,  to  be  of  a  very  suspicious  quality.  It  is  not  the  nature 
of  love  to  be  silent  and  motionless.  It  is  essentially  demon- 
strative. It  seeks  occasion  to  express  itself  to  the  object  of 
its  admiration  and  delight :  and  especially  is  this  true  of  that  ab- 
sorbing love  to  Jesus  which  the  Spirit  of  God  sheds  abroad  in  the 
believing  heart.  Can  such  an  affection  possibly  have  room  and  free 
activity  in  the  souls  of  those  who  never  seek  to  have  private,  inti- 
mate, and,  as  it  were,  confidential  intercourse  with  him  in  prayer? 
Who  even  repel  his  advances,  and  when  he  knocks,  wishing  to  come 
in  and  show  his  love,  shut  the  door  in  his  face,  and  bid  him  depart? 
And  when  he  spreads  his  table,  with  the  memorials  of  his  pas- 
sion, and  bids  his  disciples  receive  them  in  thankful  remem- 
brance of  his  sorrow,  and  as  the  pledges  of  mutual  and  everlast- 
ing friendship,  is  it  love  to  Christ  that  occasions  your  absence  ? 
9  * 


102  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

or  is  tliat  absence  capable  of  being  reconciled  with  tlie  existence 
in  your  soul  of  true  love  and  loyalty  to  his  person  and  bis 
cause  ? 

Jesus  is  not  so  mucli  an  object  to  be  contemplated  as  an  ex- 
ample to  be  followed,  and  a  Master  to  be  served :  and  his  own 
test  of  love  and  fealty  is  obedience  to  his  commandments.  ' '  He 
that  loveth  me  not,  keepeth  not  my  sayings."  One  of  his  say- 
ings is — "Enter  into  thy  closet  and  pray."  Do  you?  An- 
other is — "Repent  and  be  converted."  Have  you  any  expe- 
rimental knowledge  of  godly  sorrow  and  the  repentance  which 
is  unto  salvation?  Over  the  gate-way  to  his  kingdom,  he  has 
inscribed  "  Self-denial^''  as  the  condition  of  discipleship,  and 
the  way  to  heaven.  Is  this  the  manner  of  life  which,  for  Jesus 
Christ's  sake,  you  are  leading?  Or,  is  it  a  fact,  clear  to  your 
own  consciousness,  and  evident  to  those  who  observe  your  con- 
duct, that  self-indulgence  is  the  regulating  principle  of  your  be- 
haviour? From  points  like  these,  mankind  divide  and  diverge 
— the  few  defiling  into  the  "narrow  way"  of  self-denial,  in  obe- 
dience to  Christ ;  the  multitude  keeping  on  in  the  "broad  road" 
of  self-gratification,  walking  in  the  ways  of  their  own  hearts,  and 
in  the  sight  of  their  own  eyes :  and  because  such  a  life  is  forbid- 
den by  Jesus  Christ,  those  who  thus  live  are  guilty  of  persist- 
ent rebellion  against  his  authority,  and  stand  convicted  of, — at 
least,  the  want  of  his  love. 

From  such  facts,  we  might  proceed  to  arraign  many  persons 
on  a  graver  indictment,  than  even  this  which  is  expressed  in  the 
text.  Beyond  the  negative  crime  of  not  loving  Christ,  we 
might  charge  them  with  being  under  the  power  of  an  opposite 
feeling.  We  might  argue,  that  in  a  case  like  this,  if  there  be 
no  love,  there  can  be  no  indifference,  and  must  be  enmity.  We 
might  quote  the  Saviour's  own  decisive  declaration,  that  whoso- 


VI.]  THE  SIN  OF  NOT  LOVING  CHRIST.  103 

ever  is  "not  with  him,  is  against  him,"  and  show  that  in  the 
conflict  between  the  church  and  the  world,  truth  and  error, 
good  and  evil,  Christ  and  the  devil,  there  neither  is  nor  can  be 
either  indifference  of  feeling  or  neutrality  of  position :  but  this 
is  unnecessary,  and  we  forbear. 

The  text  speaks  not  of  such  as  hate  and  oppose,  but  of  those 
who  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  we  need  not  transcend 
the  letter  of  the  proposition.  And  it  may  be  admitted,  that 
while  there  is  no  possibility  of  a  man's  being  wholly  neutral  in 
spirit  and  attitude  toward  Christ  and  his  cause,  there  may  be, 
and  manifestly  there  are,  degrees  of  that  sinful  state  -of  heart, 
which  causes  multitudes  to  stand  aloof  from  Christian  vows  and 
church  fellowship. 

In  some,  it  is  indifference^  in  others  aversion^  in  a  third  class, 
open  and  unrelenting  hostility. 

Some  "care  for  none  of  these  things,"  some  cavil  at  the  doc- 
trines, and  spurn  the  restraints  of  Christianity,  and  some,  like 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  persecute  its  professors,  and  seek  its  extirpation 
from  the  earth.  It  would  be  altogether  unjust  and  untrue  to 
charge  without  discrimination,  all  these  degrees  and  forms  of 
opposition  to  Christ,  upon  all  unconverted  persons;  but  it  is 
neither  untrue  nor  unjust  to  lay  at  their  doors,  and  on  their  con- 
sciences, the  accusation,  that  they  do  not  love  Jesus !  This, 
they  cannot  deny,  and  there  is  not  one  among  all  the  multitudes 
of  the  unbelieving  of  whom  it  is  not  true. 

And  here,  I  drop  the  question  of  fact,  and  leave  each  of  you, 
under  the  convictions  of  truth,  and  the  sense  of  j'our  responsi- 
bility to  God,  to  find  the  place  which  belongs  to  you,  among 
those  who  say  with  trembling  and  with  tears,  "Lord,  thou 
knowest  all  things;  thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee;"  or  with 
such  as  feel  in  all  their  souls  that  up  to  this  day  Christ  has  not 


104  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

been  an  object  of  love  and  a  source  of  joy.  Do  I  address  any 
who  have  now  taken  this  latter  position  ?  Who,  under  the  con- 
straints of  truth  and  conscience,  have  confessed  to  themselves 
the  fact  that  love  to  Christ  has  no  place  within  them  ? 

That  it  should  cost  you  a  struggle  to  make,  or  even  approach 
such  an  acknowledgment  is  very  natural,  both  because  the  thing 
confessed  implies  so  much  sin,  and  exposes  you  to  so  great  dan- 
ger, but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  to  be  considered,  that  confes- 
sion of  the  truth  does  not  render  the  facts  of  the  case  any  worse, 
and  removes,  at  least,  one  impediment  out  of  the  way  of  your 
salvation.  "  He  that  covereth  his  sins,  shall  not  prosper;  but 
whoso  confesseth  and  forsaketh  them,  shall  have  mercy. ' ' 

2.  To  forward,  if  possible,  this  blessed  result,  join  with  me  in 
giving  your  close,  patient,  and  impartial  attention  to  the  ''''ex- 
ceeding sinfulness' '  of  not  loving  Jesus  Christ.  The  text  throws 
this  idea  forward  in  high  relief,  by  threatening  the  curse  of  God 
against  those  who  are  guilty  of  this  particular  sin :  yet,  in  the 
whole  catalogue  of  acts  and  omissions  which  the  Scriptures  con- 
demn, there  is  none  of  which  it  is  so  hard  to  fix  the  conviction 
in  the  conscience.  And  we  encounter  this  singular  feature  in 
the  spiritual  character  and  condition  of  men,  that  the  one  sin 
which  the  Bible  holds  up  for  especial  reprobation,  and  delivers 
over  to  the  severest  punishment  which  God  inflicts  on  any  class 
of  transgressors,  is  the  one  offence  in  reference  to  which  they 
feel  the  slightest  compunctions,  and  scarcely  rate  themselves  a 
degree  lower  on  the  scale  of  morality  because  they  are  guilty  of 
it.  Their  natural  conscience  condemns  vices  which  war  on  their 
own  bodies  and  minds,  and  crimes  which  war  against  the  rights 
of  others  and  the  welfare  of  society ;  they  "approve  the  things 
that  are  excellent,"  and,  according  as  they  were  guilty  or  innocent 
of  the  impeachment,  their  cheeks  would  mantle  with  shame,  or 


VI.]  THE  BIN  OF  NOT  LOVING  CHRIST.  105 

burn  with  indignation,  if  accused  of  violating  these  fundamental 
morahties  of  Hfe  and  society.  But  observe  them  under  the 
charge,  or  when  they  make  the  frank  acknowledgment  that  they 
have  no  love  for  Jesus  Christ !  Do  they  blush,  as  at  the  confes- 
sion of  a  great  moral  delinquency?  or  grow  indignant,  as  if  the 
imputation  were  deeply  damaging  to  their  character?  Nothing 
of  the  sort.  They  treat  it  as  the  merest  peccadillo,  less,  im- 
measurably less,  than  the  utterance  of  a  lie,  or  the  theft  of  a 
dollar. 

In  fact  and  experience,  not  loving  Christ  is  no  sin,  according 
to  their  habitual  modes  of  thinking  and  rules  of  action.  But  if, 
according  to  the  teachings  of  Scripture,  it  be  not  only  a  sin,  but 
the  very  essence  and  aggravation  of  human  wickedness,  it  is  a 
question  of  interest,  why  a  conscience  which,  with  promptness 
and  power,  condemns  immorality  and  vice,  bears  so  faint  and 
unfelt  a  testimony  against  the  sin  of  withholding  our  hearts 
from  the  Son  of  Grod. 

This  inquiry  opens  a  wide  field  of  remark,  on  which  our  pur- 
pose does  not  allow  us  to  enter ;  and  we  will  only  suggest,  as  a 
key  to  the  solution  of  the  problem,  the  fact  that  dn^  by  its  very 
nature^  extinguishes,  totally,  and  completely,  every  spark  of  love 
to  God  in  the  soul,  while  it  leaves  the  personal  and  domestic, 
social  and  public,  moralities  of  human  nature,  if  not  undamaged, 
certainly  undestroyed.  Total  depravity  is  total  ungodliness.  Pub- 
licans and  sinners  who  love  their  friends  very  much,  do  not  love 
Grod  at  all ;  and  this  is  the  reason,  in  its  root,  why,  when  God 
comes  to  men  in  the  person  of  his  Son,  they  see  in  him  "no 
beauty,"  and  turn  away  with  indifference  or  aversion.  We  can- 
not, then,  conclude  that,  because  the  conscience  of  men  does  not 
anathematize  the  sinner  who  has  no  love  to  Christ,  therefore 
God  does  not.    We  must  consult  truer  oracles  than  our  own 


106  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

blinded  hearts.  If  you  have  read  the  New  Testament  with  any 
care,  you  must  know  that  sms  against  Jesus  Christ  are  those 
which  it  signahzes  as  exposing  the  sinner  to  the  deepest  dis- 
pleasure of  God,  and  as  consigning  the  soul  to  the  most  intolera- 
ble of  the  woes  of  eternity.  You  remember  how  Jesus  himself 
upbraided  the  cities  in  which  his  mighty  works  were  done,  be- 
cause of  their  unbelief  and  impenitency,  and  how  he  declared 
that,  in  the  day  of  judgment,  it  would  fare  worse  with  them 
than  with  Sodomites  and  heathens;  and,  having  once  heard, 
can  you  ever  forget  the  solemn  declaration,  that  "he  that  be- 
lieveth  not  is  condemned  already,  because  he  hath  not  believed 
in  the  name  of  the  only-begotten  Son  of  Grod ;"  and  that  "  the 
condemnation"  which  will  burn  its  blasting  curse  most  deeply 
into  the  soul,  is  the  fact  that  "light  has  come  into  the  world, 
and  men  have  loved  darkness  rather  than  light?"  The  man 
who,  by  impenitence  and  unbelief,  turns  his  back  on  Christ,  and 
thus  counts  himself  unworthy  of  eternal  life,  is  appointed  to 
"severer  punishment"  than  befel  the  sinners  of  a  past  dispen- 
sation, or  will  overtake  idolaters  in  the  day  of  judgment.  Such 
is  the  estimate  in  which  God  holds  the  sin  of  which  men  make 
so  little.  To  ask  why  the  want  of  love  to  Christ  is  so  great  an 
iniquity,  is  much  the  same  as  to  inquire  why  sin  against  God  is 
an  evil  so  crimson  in  its  guilt,  so  mortal  in  its  effects. 

Yet  there  is  a  difference  which  may  be  rendered  plain  and 
palpable. 

God  in  Christ  sustains  new  and  peculiar  relations  to  men,  and 
these  relations  are  evidently  such  as  to  enhance  the  guilt  of 
those  who  do  not  act  in  conformity  with  their  nature  and  pur- 
pose. 

And  here  all  that  is  special  and  peculiar  clusters  about, 
and,  in  one  relation  or  another,  depends  upon  the  unique  and 


VI.]  THE  SIN  OF  NOT  LOVING  CHRIST.  107 

glorious  character  of  Jesus,  as  the  mediator  between  God  and 
men. 

It  implies  and  requires  the  mystery  of  his  mcai-nation :  the 
coming  down  among  men  in  human  form  and  earthly  manifesta- 
tion of  Him  who  dwelt  from  everlasting  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,  and  who  thought  it  no  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God. 
If  in  this  we  saw  nothing  more  than  the  coming  nigh  of  God  to 
man,  revealing  himself  under  forms  and  conditions  better  adapted 
to  our  feeble  apprehension,  does  it  not  even  then  bring  us  under 
a  special  obligation  to  recognize  and  love  the  manifested  and 
present  God?  If  we  see  in  it  the  grace  of  a  boundless  conde- 
scension, in  that  He  who  was  "rich"  in  celestial  glory  allied 
himself  with  the  deep  poverty  of  a  lapsed  race,  does  not  this, 
his  voluntary  humility,  claim  the  grateful  acknowledgment  of 
all  for  whose  sake  it  was  submitted  to? 

And  if  love  returned  be  the  right  response  for  love  shown ; 
and  if  its  degree  is  to  be  measured  by  the  intensity,  the  pains, 
the  sacrifices  of  the  love  by  which  we  are  saved,  then  tell  me,  O 
ye,  who  hide  your  faces  from  the  Son  of  God,  with  "what  man- 
ner of  love"  you  ought  to  regard  him,  who  endured  the  cross, 
and  despised  the  shame  for  you  ? 

Or,  if  love  is  to  be  grounded  upon  and  measured  by  the  value 
of  benefits  conferred  or  offered,  estimate,  if  you  can,  how  much 
of  it  is  due  to  Him  whose  blood  washes  away  the  guilt  of  ten 
thousand  iniquities  ;  whose  Spirit — free  as  the  air  you  breathe, 
or  the  water  you  drink — purifies  the  heart  from  pollution  ;  and 
whose  all-powerful  mediation  brings  the  sinner  back,  and  up 
from  his  apostasy  and  death  on  earth,  to  everlasting  life  and  un- 
utterable bliss  in  heaven  ?  With  a  redemption  in  his  hands — 
the  price  of  his  labour  and  travail,  of  his  tears,  and  his  blood, 
'  The  mighty  God,"  in  the  humility  of  man's  flesh,  stands  with- 


108  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

out,  and  knocks  at  your  heart's  door,  for  no  other  purpose  than 
to  bless  your  precious  soul,  with  this  Divine  and  infinite  bene- 
faction !  Or  if  we  have  respect  to  that  element  in  the  nature 
of  love,  which  consists  in  the  admiration  of  a  character  for  its  in- 
trinsic excellence,  does  not  Jesus  rise  pre-eminent  above  all  the 
sons  of  men,  and  the  angelic  natures  of  heaven,  in  his  title  to 
youi*  affections  ? 

The  glory  of  the  invisible  God  shines  effulgent  in  his  face ; 
grace  is  poured  into  his  lips,  and  distils  in  words  of  unmatched 
sweetness  from  his  tongue.  "His  heart  is  made  of  tender- 
ness. ' '  His  life  is  beautified  with  super-human  virtues.  He  is 
' '  altogether  lovely. ' ' 

Saints  on  earth  bless  him ;  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  per- 
fect in  heaven,  cast  their  crowns  at  his  feet,  and  look  up  to  his 
unveiled  face  with  love  and  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory  ; 
while  an  innumerable  company  of  angels  kindling  with  sympa- 
thetic adoration,  join  the  alleluia  that  ascends  around  his  throne, 
and  shout — "Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  to  receive 
power,  and  riches,  and  strength,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and 
blessing. ' ' 

Such  a  Being  as  this  it  is,  who  claims  your  love,  and  only 
your  love.  He  does  not  wish  to  make  you  servants  but  friends, 
taking  you  into  his  confidence,  and  preparing  you  to  share  his 
heavenly  throne.  ' '  Give  me  thy  heart, ' ' — this  is  the  sum  of  all 
his  demands :  but  you  will  not  give  it,  and  this  is  the  sum  and 
aggravation  of  your  sin.  You  love  him  not.  You  neither  de- 
light in  his  character,  nor  thank  him  for  his  salvation.  You 
forget  him,  neglect  him,  disobey  him,  and  perhaj^s,  would  be 
ashamed  to  have  any  one  suppose  that  you  were  even  seriously 
thinking  of  the  duty  you  owe  to  him.  This  is  a  grievous  wrong. 
In  a  world  that  hates  him,  and  dishonours  him,  you  refuse  to  enroll 


VI.]  THE  SIN   OF  NOT  LOVING  CHRIST.  109 

yourself  under  liis  banner,  and  never  open  your  lips  to  repel  the 
aspersions  which  are  cast  on  his  blessed  cause  and  holy  name. 

And,  think  you,  my  dear  unconverted  friend,  that  this  may 
be  done  with  safety  ?  Will  a  sin  so  great — so  utterly  without 
excuse — so  contrary  to  the  most  sacred  obligations,  be  allowed 
to  pass  with  impunity  ? 

It  is  a  sin  unto  death,  not  only  because  it  rejects  the  only  re- 
demption, but  because  of  its  own  inherent  criminality.  It, 
above  other  forms  of  transgression,  "  deserves  the  wrath  of  Qod, 
both  in  this  world,  and  that  which  is  to  come."  It  exposes  you 
even  to  ' '  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb. "  That  meek  sufferer,  who  was 
led  as  a  sheep  to  the  slaughter,  and  opened  not  his  mouth  to  re- 
sent the  blasphemous  revilings  of  the  wicked,  will,  one  day,  arise 
to  avenge  the  injuries  he  has  suffered,  and  to  wipe  away  the 
reproach  of  his  truth  and  grace.  The  salvation  or  the  anathema 
of  Jesus,  is  the  dread  alternative  to  which  every  one  of  us  is 
shut  up.     "  If  any  man  love  not — let  him  be  anathema." 

A  person  or  a  thing  is  anathematized,  when  devoted  to  God 
for  destruction.  It  does  not  hurt  one  to  be  thus  dealt  with  by 
a  false  and  apostate  church,  as  the  faithful  have  been  in  the 
ages  past.  Its  curse  is  a  blessing:  but  "it  is  a  fearful  thing 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  hving  Grod ;"  and  the  anathema  of 
Incarnate  Love,  if  that  be  extorted  from  him  by  our  sins, 
will  torture  and  blast  the  sod  for  ever!  The  fruitless  fig-tree, 
withered  immediately  away  under  his  curse,  and  was  doomed  to 
perpetual  barrenness  and  death.  The  curse  which  the  sin  of 
man  entailed  on  the  earth,  is  so  dire  and  destructive,  that  the 
whole  creation  travails  in  pain  beneath  its  awful  pressure. 

When  our  blessed  Lord  was  nailed  to  the  cross,  he  himself 

was  anathema!  for  it  is  written, — "Cursed  is  every  one  that 

hangeth  on  a  tree. ' ' 
10 


110  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

See  how  it  tortures  the  soul  of  immaculate  innocence ;  and 
hearken  how  the  incarnate  God  cries  out  under  its  dreadful  bit- 
terness !  And  if  this  was  done  in  the  green  tree,  what  will  be 
done  in  the  dry?  Can  you  bear  to  be  accursed  of  God?  Can 
you  endure  even  to  hear  Jesus  say, — "Depart  from  me,  ye 
cursed,  into  the  fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels?" 

And  terrible  as  the  punishment  is,  it  is  certain  to  be  inflicted. 
The  holy  apostle,  who  sacrificed  himself  for  the  salvation  of 
men,  wrote  the  words  of  the  text  with  calmness,  and  gave  his 
consent  in  advance  to  the  doom  of  those  who  love  not  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ ;  and  when  the  day  of  reckoning  arrives,  the  judg- 
ment which  delivers  them  over  to  the  curse,  will  be  approved  by 
every  human  conscience,  and  every  holy  creature,  and  most  of 
all,  by  Christ  himself.  Not  in  a  spirit  of  vindictiveness,  nor  be- 
cause he  is  less  merciful  than  when  he  wept  over  the  coming 
woes  of  Jerusalem,  but  because  the  eternal  righteousness  of  God 
demands  it,  Christ  will,  from  his  judgment-seat,  anathematize 
every  one  that  loves  him  not !  Nothing  is  more  certain :  and  in 
assurance  thereof,  the  apostle  adds  the  mystic  words, — "  Maran- 
ATHA : "— "  The  Lord  cometh. ' ' 

Because  he  has  gone  away  out  of  the  world,  and  we  see  him 
no  more,  men  are  emboldened  in  sin,  and  seem  quite  at  ease  in 
their  unbelief.  Their  inward  thought  is  that  he  will  either 
never  come  at  all,  or  not  for  so  long  a  time  that  the  event  is 
unworthy  of  present  attention.  Against  such  a  ruinous  and 
wicked  thought,  these  words  are  directed.  ' '  The  Lord  cometh. ' ' 
' '  The  day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night. "  "  The 
Judge  standeth  before  the  door."  And  who  may  abide  the  day 
of  his  coming ;  and  who  shall  stand  when  he  appeareth  ?  ' '  Be- 
hold, he  cometh  with  clouds,  and  every  eye  shall  see  him,  and 
they  also  which  pierced  him ;  and  all  kindreds  of  the  earth  shall 


VL]  THE  SIN   OF  NOT  LOVING  CHRIST.  Ill 

wail  because  of  him.  With  all  his  holy  angels,  he  will  come,  de- 
scending in  chariots  of  fire,  "taking  vengeance  on  them  that 
know  not  God,  and  that  obey  not  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

In  that  immense  assembly  of  a  congregated  world,  you  will  be 
I)resent :  and  it  will  seem  to  you,  as  if  the  eye  of  Jesus  were 
withdrawn  from  every  other  creature,  to  concentrate  its  pierc- 
ing gaze  and  holy  scrutiny  on  yourself. 

Are  you  ready  for  the  meeting  ?  If  you  love  him  now,  that 
will  be  the  day  of  your  redemption.  If  you  love  him  not,  and 
live  on  to  the  day  of  your  death  without  loving  him,  it  were 
good  for  you,  if  you  had  not  been  born.  When  your  slumber- 
ing dust  awakes,  and  you  meet  him  in  mid-air,  you  will  cry  to 
the  rocks  and  mountains  to  cover  and  hide  you  from  his  face. 
There  will  be  none  to  help  you  then.  The  wife,  the  sister,  the 
parent,  the  pastor  who  now  prays  for  you,  and  weeps  over  you, 
will  then  have  finished  each  one  his  work:  and  even  Jesus, 
who  now  "with  melting  heart  and  bleeding  hands,"  offers  you 
salvation,  will  turn  away  from  your  cry  of  anguish  and  despair ! 
O  ye,  that  love  him  not,  consider  this,  lest  ye  perish.  Why 
tmll  ye  die  ?  Jesus  died  to  save  you.  He  is  this  moment  ready 
to  save  you :  and  he  is  able  to  save  them  to  the  uttermost,  who 
come  unto  God  by  him,  seeing  that  he  ever  liveth  to  make  in- 
tercession for  us.  Beyond  anything  you  have  ever  believed  or 
imagined,  Christ  is  urgent  in  the  matter  of  your  salvation.  He 
yearns  over  you  with  tender  compassion.  He  is  waiting  to  hear 
you  pray.  He  sues  for  admission  to  your  heart.  "Behold," 
he  says,  "  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock."  Hear  his  voice  then, 
and  open  the  door,  that  he  may  come  in  to  you,  and  sup  with 
you,  and  you  with  him. 


112  TllUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Scf. 


SERMON  VII. 
ABSALOM'S  DEATH. 

2  Sam.  xviii.  14,  15,  17. — And  he  took  three  darts  in  his  hand, 
and  thrust  them  through  the  heart  of  Absalom,  while  he  was  yet 
alive  in  the  midst  of  the  oak.  And  ten  young  men  that  hare 
JoaVs  armour  compassed  about  and  smote  Absalom,  and  slew 
him.  And  they  took  Absalom,  and  cast  him  into  a  great  pit  in 
the  wood,  and  laid  a  very  great  heap  of  stones  upon  him. 

The  Scriptures  abound  with  the  record  of  men  who  walked 
with  Grod  on  earth,  and  were  afterward  received  into  glory.  And 
parallel  with  these,  and  perhaps,  not  less  in  number,  we  have 
the  biography  of  those  whose  character  deserves  only  execration, 
and  whose  "latter  end,"  so  far  from  being  a  thing  to  be  desired, 
inspires  only  sentiments  of  fear  and  horror.  They  are  not  pat- 
terns, but  warnings ;  not  models  for  imitation,  but  monuments 
reared  upon  the  place  of  danger,  "  pillars  of  salt,"  that  put  us 
in  remembrance  of  the  sins  which  have  ruined  others. 

What  these  warnings  lack  therefore,  in  presenting  nothing 
positive  for  imitation,  they  make  up  by  appealing  to  sentiments 
and  principles  which  exist  in  the  hearts  of  all  men.  The  exam- 
ples of  the  good  and  holy  act  with  eifectual  power,  only  on  those 
who  have  in  some  degree  a  corresponding  character,  and  asph-e 


VII.]  Absalom's  death.  113 

to  the  same  excellence ;  while  the  example  of  sinners,  the  his- 
tory of  whose  crimes  and  judgments  makes  them  a  warning  to 
men  beset  with  like  temptations,  addresses  itself  to  feelings 
which  exist  in  every  heart.  All  men  dread  evil,  and  desire  to  es- 
cape it,  and  when  they  see  that  sin  entails  misery  and  ruin  on  those 
who  practise  it,  the  depravity  of  their  hearts  is  in  a  measure 
restrained,  and  in  some  instances,  this  fear  may  prove  the  germ 
of  a  thorough  reformation,  and  eventuate  in  the  conversion  and 
salvation  of  the  soul.  In  this  view,  we  propose,  as  the  subject  of 
our  present  meditations,  the  death  of  Absalom,  with  such  reflec- 
tions as  the  facts  of  his  life  may  suggest.  He  did  not  die  the  ' '  com- 
mon death ' '  of  men :  and  it  is  not  upon  any  of  the  common  aspects 
of  death,  as  a  fact  in  the  history  of  our  mortal  race,  that  we  pro- 
pose to  speak,  but  only  of  the  special  lessons  of  this  particular 
death. 

Its  tragical  nature,  and  the  very  peculiar  manner  in  which  it 
was  brought  about,  besides  investing  it  with  an  air  of  romance, 
fasten  attention  upon  it  as  an  act  of  Providence,  and  connect  it 
with  the  antecedent  life  which  came  to  this  sad  and  sudden  close. 
We  cannot  but  look  upon  it  as  the  punishment  of  a  great  crime ; 
and  when  we  consider  who  Absalom  was,  and  the  circumstances 
in  which  he  was  placed,  his  character  and  career  may  supply  a 
useful  and  interesting  study.  The  instruction  it  afibrds  appears 
to  lie  mainly  in  two  directions.  His  death  may  be  considered  in 
its  relation  to  his  own  conduct  and  character,  and  also  as  it 
stands  connected  with  that  of  his  royal  father,  the  king  of  Israel. 
Both  aspects,  taken  together,  may  give  us  some  insight  into  the 
principles  and  methods  of  Divine  Providence. 

I.  In  the  first  place,  view  the  death  of  Absalom  as  the  inatu- 
ral  termination  of  a  vicious  career,  and  the  just  punishment  of  a 
great  crime.  "  The  wages  of  sin  is  death,"  and,  sooner  or  later, 
10* 


114  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

they  are  certain  to  be  paid.  Sin,  as  a  moral  cause,  operates 
with  the  same  infallible  certainty  and  irresistible  power  as  phy- 
sical agencies  do.  A  cannon-ball  which  strikes  a  man  on  the 
head,  a  mortal  poison  received  into  the  stomach,  or  a  consump- 
tion which  feeds  upon  the  most  vital  organs  of  the  human  sys- 
tem, is  no  more  sure  to  work  the  death  of  the  body,  than  sin  is 
to  effectuate  that  of  the  soul.  In  some  of  its  forms  it  destroys 
both  soul  and  body,  and  so  manifestly  begins  the  work  of  ruin 
in  the  present  world,  as  to  inspire  fearful  apprehensions  of  what 
it  will  accomplish  hereafter,  when  it  is  "finished"  in  death  eter- 
nal. The  case  of  the  ' '  young  man  Absalom' '  illustrates  this 
position.  It  shows  the  connexion  between  sin  and  suffering — 
crime  and  punishment.  Knowing  his  history,  we  naturally  look 
for  some  signal  expression  of  the  Divine  displeasure,  and  are 
not  surprised  at  the  swift  and  terrible  retribution  which  over- 
took him. 

His  crime  was  great.  It  involved  many  elements  of  turpitude 
and  circumstances  of  aggravation.  He  was  a  conspirator  and  a 
rebel  against  the  best  government  in  the  world.  Not  only  was 
it  a  good  and  righteous  government,  but,  in  a  high  and  peculiar 
sense,  it  was  a  Divine  government.  Its  constitution  and  laws 
were  enacted  hy  God^  revealed  on  Sinai,  and,  as  to  their  essence, 
written  by  his  own  finger  on  tables  of  stone.  And  not  this  only, 
but  the  actual  administration  of  it  was  sanctioned  by  the  same 
high  authority.  The  reigning  king  was  designated  and  anointed 
by  an  inspired  prophet.  To  resist  him^  was,  in  a  special  sense, 
to  "resist  the  ordinance  of  God;"  and  the  attempt  to  subvert 
his  authority,  was,  in  effect,  rebellion  against  the  covenant-God 
of  Israel.  A  second  element  and  aggravation  of  his  sin  exists 
in  the  motives  which  prompted  the  guilty  attempt  to  revolution- 
ize the  government  and  usurp  the  throne.     The  whole  scheme 


VII.]  Absalom's  death.  115 

proceeded  from  personal  amhition.  He  had  no  wrongs  to  re- 
dress, no  grievances  to  complain  of,  no  great  abuses  and  oppres- 
sions which  he  sought  to  remove.  His  aim  was  not  to  make  a 
better  government,  but  simply  to  get  the  reins  of  power  into  his 
own  hands.  David  was  growing  old,  and  must  needs  soon  re- 
sign the  sceptre  to  other  hands,  and  Solomon,  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  his  father,  and  the  higher  intimations  of  Heaven,  had 
been  already  indicated  as  his  successor.  To  defeat  this  purpose, 
and  to  place  the  crown  on  his  own  head,  was  the  whole  scope 
and  object  of  Absalom's  undertaking.  His  motive  was  purely 
selfish,  and  his  aim  unlawful  and  unholy.  Having  a  wicked  end 
in  view,  he  would  not,  of  course,  scruple  to  pursue  it  hy  means 
of  the  same  nature ;  and  in  these  we  have  an  added  element  of 
his  crime,  and  a  further  exhibition  of  his  character.    . 

"With  a  view  to  render  himself  popular,  he  played  the  dema- 
gogue, and  was  as  genuine  a  specimen  of  the  class  as  any  age  or 
country  has  ever  produced.  He  affected  regal  state,  beginning 
to  act  the  king,  that  men  might  think  of  him  as  one  fit  to  fill 
the  throne. 

He  stationed  himself  in  places  of  pubHc  concourse,  and  sought 
the  acquaintance  of  the  people.  Without  directly  charging  that 
the  government  was  badly  administered,  he  plainly  hinted  that 
such  was  the  fact,  and  professed  a  very  special  and  peculiar  in- 
terest in  persons  whom  he  had  never  seen  or  heard  of  before : 
"And  it  was  so,  that  when  any  man  that  had  a  controversy 
came  to  the  king  for  judgment,  then  Absalom  called  unto  him, 
and  said.  Of  what  city  art  thou?  And  he  said.  Thy  servant  is 
of  one  of  the  tribes  of  Israel.  And  Absalom  said  unto  him.  See, 
thy  matters  are  good  and  right;  but  there  is  no  man  deputed  of 
the  king  to  hear  thee.  Oh  that  I  were  made  judge  in  the  land, 
that  eveiy  man  which  hath  a  suit  or  cause  might  come  unto  me, 


116  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

and  I  would  do  him  justice.  And  it  was  so,  that  when  any  man 
came  nigh  to  him  to  do  him  obeisance,  he  put  forth  his  hand, 
and  took  him,  and  kissed  him :  so  Absalom  stole  the  hearts  of 
the  men  of  Israel."  To  these  low  arts  of  the  demagogue,  he 
added  the  baseness  of  the  hypocrite.  When  his  plans  were  ma- 
tured, and  the  conspiracy  was  ready  for  development,  he  pre- 
tended that,  years  before,  when  he  was  an  exile  in  Gleshur,  a 
town  of  Syiia,  he  had  made  a  vow  to  worship  and  sacrifice  unto 
the  Lord  in  Hebron,  in  case  he  was  brought  again  to  his  own 
country.  It  would  seem  the  vow  had  lain  Hghtly  on  his  con- 
science for  a  long  time,  but  now  he  pleads  it  as  a  pretext  to  ask 
permission  to  visit  Hebron — a  royal  city  where  David  himself 
had  begun  to  reign — that,  with  the  prestige  of  its  fame  and 
eminence,  he  might  declare  himself  king,  and  rally  the  people 
to  his  standard.  Pleased  with  his  seeming  piety,  the  request 
was  readily  granted,  and  the  plot  proceeded  to  its  consumma- 
tion. The  particulars  thus  far  gleaned  from  the  history  are 
enough  of  themselves  to  prove  the  badness  of  his  heart,  and  to 
stamp  his  name  with  infamy.  Ambition^  hypocrisy,  trickery, 
and  falsehood,  culminating  in  open  rebellion,  constitute  a  crime 
of  no  ordinary  dimensions ;  but  we  have  not  named  or  adverted 
to  the  circumstance  which  imparts  to  the  proceeding  its  chief 
malignity  and  wickedness :  It  was  directed  against  his  own 
father!  It  was  highly  criminal  to  make  the  attempt  which  he 
did,  supposing  that  he  intended  simply  to  prevent  Solomon  from 
succeeding  to  the  throne  to  which  he  had  been  chosen  according 
to  the  forms,  and  in  the  spirit  of  their  theocratic  constitution. 
And  for  any  man  to  have  attempted  the  dethronement  of  David, 
who  had  now  grown  gray  in  the  service  of  his  country,  and  be- 
neath whose  wise  and  benign  administration  its  people  had  been 
happy,  and  all  its  interests  had  prospered,  and  by  whose  martial 


VIL]  ABSALOM'S  DEATH.  117 

prowess  and  victorious  sword  the  territory  of  the  kingdom  had 
spread  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Euphrates, — ^for  any  man 
to  have  unfurled  the  standard  of  revolt  against  such  a  monarch, 
would  have  been  a  most  wanton  outrage,  and  an  enormous  crime. 
But  for  Absalom  to  do  it,  made  the  crime  unspeakably  greater. 
It  was  a  contemptuous  violation  of  the  honour  and  duty  which 
belonged  to  the  best  of  fathers,  as  well  as  the  best  of  kings. 

Against  the  father  whose  bone  and  flesh  he  was,  of  whose  en- 
dearment and  fond  hopes  he  had  been  the  object,  and  from  whom 
he  had  received  for  previous  faults  a  free  and  cordial  forgiveness, 
he  devised  a  plot,  and  set  in  operation  a  revolt  which  endangered 
not  only  his  throne  and  his  honour,  but  his  very  life,  and  was  in 
every  way  calculated  to  "bring  down  his  gray  hairs  with  sorrow 
to  the  grave. ' ' 

In  heart  and  purpose  he  was  a  parricide,  guilty  of  the  foulest 
murder  and  the  most  unnatural  of  crimes.  The  climax  of  his 
guilt  was  reached  when  he  gave  ready  and  delighted  assent  to 
the  counsel  of  Ahithophel,  which  contemplated  not  the  slaughter 
of  the  people,  but  only  the  assassination  of  the  king.  "  I, "  said 
this  wily  warrior,  ' '  will  come  upon  him  when  he  is  weary  and 
weak-handed,  and  will  make  him  afraid,  and  all  the  people  that 
are  with  him  shall  flee,  and  /  will  smite  the  Mng  only. ' '  That 
Ahithophel  ventured  to  make  the  suggestion,  shows  that  he 
knew  his  man.  "The  saying  pleased  Absalom  well. "  There 
is  no  intimation  that  the  atrocity  of  the  act  gave  him  one  mo- 
ment's "pause,"  or  occasioned  even  a  twinge  of  conscience.  If 
the  object  of  his  unhallowed  ambition  could  have  been  reached 
without  this  horrible  deed,  no  doubt  he  would  have  chosen  to 
avoid  it ;  only  the  malignity  of  a  fiend  could  have  found  pleasure 
in  it  for  its  own  sake.  That  he  did  not  shrink  from  it,  proves 
the  remorseless  cruelty  of  "  vaulting  ambition,"  and  shows  with 


118  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

what  perfect  ease  and  reckless  determination  it  pursues  its  aim, 
trampling  on  all  obligations,  and  plunging  into  the  most  unna- 
tural and  diabolical  crimes. 

Few  chapters  in  the  annals  of  the  world  are  so  black  with  in- 
famy and  guilt  as  those  that  record  the  conspiracies,  cruelties, 
and  murders  which  ambition  has  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of 
displacing  those  who  stood  in  its  way,  and  of  mounting  thus  to 
thrones  of  power.  It  has  made  men  "murderers  of  fathers,' 
and  of  brothers,  and  of  innocent  children ;  and  it  has  transformed 
the  tender  heart  of  woman  into  marble  hardness.  And  at  this 
hour,  it  has  as  much  to  do,  perhaps,  as  anything  else,  among 
the  immediate  causes  of  our  national  troubles,  in  shaking  the 
foundations  of  our  government,  and  filling  the  land  with  distress 
and  bloodshed.  It  is  a  crime  of  gigantic  magnitude,  and  in  its 
outworking  cruel  and  relentless  as  the  very  spirit  of  the  pit. 

II.  Having  thus  traced  the  character  and  crime  of  Absalom 
at  their  point  of  fullest  development,  a  natural  curiosity  prompts 
us  to  inquire  whether  there  is  anything  in  the  early  history  of 
this  man  which  goes  to  explain  the  obliquity  of  his  riper  years — 
anything  which  marks  a  gradual  departure  from  the  ways  of 
piety  and  uprightness,  and  which  may  be  turned  by  ourselves  to 
practical  account. 

His  mother's  name  was  Maachah,  the  daughter  of  Talmai, 
king  of  Geshur,  a  heathenish  town  of  Syria.  It  is  not  to  be 
supposed  that  she  practised  idolatry ;  as  the  wife  of  David,  she 
doubtless  became  a  proselyte  to  the  Jewish  religion,  and  was  at 
least  an  outward  and  apparent  worshipper  of  Jehovah  :  never- 
theless, it  would  not  probably  trench  on  charity  or  the  probabili- 
ties of  historical  truth,  to  suppose  that  she  may  not  have  been  a 
very  suitable  person  to  train  her  son  to  the  practices  of  virtue 
and  religion.     But,  as  often  happens  in  fact,  it  might  be  sug- 


VII.  1  ABSALOM'S  DEATH.  119 

gested  that  the  lack  of  service  on  the  part  of  one  parent  was 
supplied  by  the  fidelity  of  the  other.  We  know  that  a  father's 
dereliction  in  parental  duty  is  not  seldom  counteracted,  and  in  a 
good  degree  overcome  by  the  spiritual  wisdom,  deep  devotion, 
and  holy  life  of  a  Christian  mother :  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  are  not  wanting  examples  in  which  children  who  are  de- 
nied her  plastic  powers  to  mould  their  characters,  are  well  and 
successfully  trained  by  a  father's  example  and  authority.  What- 
ever may  have  been  the  character  of  Maachah,  we  know  that 
David  was  a  man  of  exemplary  piety,  and  one  that  felt  a  pro- 
found and  tender  interest  in  the  spiritual  and  eternal  welfare  of 
his  children.  After  he  had  brought  up  the  ark  to  Jei-usalem 
with  public  ceremonies  and  rejoicings,  we  are  told  that  he  "re- 
turned to  bless  his  household. ' '  His  duty  as  king  was  immedi- 
ately followed  by  that  of  a  father — the  priest  of  his  family.  The 
pious  charge  he  gave  to  Solomon  at  his  inauguration,  discloses 
the  same  trait  of  character.  The  burden  of  it  was,  that  he 
served  God  while  he  ruled  the  people:  "Thou,  Solomon,  my 
son,  know  thou  the  Grod  of  thy  fathers.  If  thou  seek  him,  he 
will  be  found  of  thee ;  but  if  thou  forsake  him,  he  will  cast  thee 
off  for  ever."  From  these  and  like  indications  we  might  seem 
precluded  from  the  attempt  to  trace  any  sort  of  connexion  be- 
tween the  misconduct  of  Absalom,  and  the  shortcomings  of 
David  in  his  parental  relations. 

And  it  must  be  admitted  that  there  is  nothing  expressed  in 
the  history  which  proves  any  delkiquency  in  respect  of  this  par- 
ticular child.  Two  or  three  circumstances,  however,  suggest 
the  surmise  that  Absalom  may  have  been  a  spoiled  child,  in 
whom  tlie  germs  of  tyranny  and  rebellion  were  planted  at  an 
early  age  by  parental  neglect  and  indulgence.  It  would  seem 
that  he  was  a  darling  child  to  his  father,  standing  to  David 


120  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

somewhat  in  the  same  relation  as  Joseph  to  the  doting  heart  of 
Jacob.  This  might  be  gathered  from  the  manner  in  which  he 
yearned  over  him  while  in  banishment* — ^from  the  charge  given 
to  the  chiefs  of  his  army  as  they  went  forth  to  quench  so  unna- 
tural a  rebellion — "Deal  gently,  for  my  sake,  with  the  young 
man,  even  with  Absalom  ;"  and  more  especially  from  the  irre- 
pressible and  overpowering  grief  occasioned  by  his  death.  Pa- 
rental love  is  an  implantation  of  the  heavenly  Father,  and  is 
like  his  own :  and  its  truest  manifestation  and  highest  use  are 
seen  in  seeking  the  spiritual  and  eternal  welfare  of  our  offspring ; 
but  that  blind  and  foolish  fondness  which  "spares  the  rod" 
when  it  is  needed,  according  to  an  inspired  oracle,  is  "hatred 
of  the  child."  It  may  be  that  the  starting  point  of  Absalom's 
course  to  ruin  lies  just  here.  It  is  not  an  uncommon  fault  of 
good  men.  Faithful  in  other  respects,  they  are  lamentably  re- 
miss in  this :  they  neglect  the  religious  training  and  government 
of  their  children.  Eli  the  priest  was  a  good  man,  and  "  trem- 
bled for  the  ark  of  Grod, ' '  and  glowed  with  patriotic  devotion — 
but  he  did  not  govern  his  children.  "When  his  sons  made 
themselves  vile,  he  restrained  them  not,"  and  they  rushed  on 
to  perdition. 

Another  circumstance  which  heightens  the  probability  that 
the  religious  discipline  and  education  of  Absalom  may  have  been 
in  some  degree  neglected,  is  the  fact  that  David  was  greatly  oc- 
cupied with  affairs  of  state,  and  oppressed  with  business.  He 
had  the  administration  of  a  kingdom  on  his  hands.  It  is  true 
this  would  neither  justify  nor  necessitate  the  neglect  of  his 
family ;  but  we  all  know  the  absorbing  nature  even  of  our  own 
out-door  and  public  engagements,  and  how  strong  is  the  tempta- 

*-  2  Sam.  xiii.  39. 


VII.]  ABSALOM'S  DEATH.  121 

tion  they  offer  to  omit  home  duties.  The  king  of  Israel  may 
have  felt,  and,  to  some  extent,  yielded  to  a  like,  but  immensely 
greater  pressure.  If  he  did,  he  committed  a  great  mistake — he 
neglected  a  primary  duty — and  so  laid  the  foundation  not  only 
for  the  most  pungent  parental  sorrows,  but  for  the  subversion 
of  his  kingdom.  Nothing  whatever,  come  in  what  guise  it  may, 
whether  of  pubhc  and  professional  duty,  or  of  urgent  business, 
by  which  our  children  are  clothed  and  fed,  can  justify  the  ne- 
glect of  their  religious  education  and  constant  training  in  the 
ways  of  the  Lord. 

A  third  circumstance,  tending  even  more  strongly  to  confirm 
the  suspicion  that  lack  of  early  restraint  had  nurtured  the  spirit 
of  filial  insubordination  in  Absalom,  and  made  him  at  last  a 
traitor,  a  rebel,  and  a  parricide,  is  the  recorded  fact  that  in  re- 
ference to  another  of  his  sons,  David  did  pursue  a  course  of  uni- 
form and  weak  indulgence,  and  with  substantially  the  same  re- 
sults as  were  produced  in  this  case.  After  the  rebellion  of  Ab- 
salom had  been  suppressed,  and  David  was  old  and  bed-ridden, 
Adonijah,  a  younger  son,  "exalted  himself,  saying,  I  will  be 
king ;  and  he  prepared  him  chariots,  and  horsemen,  and  fifty 
men  to  run  before  him."  After  this  announcement,  it  is  added, 
in  significant  proximity — "And  his  father  had  not  displeased  him 
at  any  time,  in  saying.  Why  hast  thou  done  so?"  The  youth 
had  done  as  he  pleased,  had  gone  where  he  chose,  and  no  doubt 
had  practised  the  petty  tjTant  over  those  whose  condition  was 
inferior,  and  thus  had  grown  rapidly  up  to  the  full  stature  of  a 
rebel,  who  was  not  afraid  or  ashamed  to  imbitter  the  last  hours 
of  his  too  indulgent  father.  If  a  similar  course  was  pursued 
with  Absalom,  his  precocious  wickedness  and  filial  impiety  are 
sufficiently  explained.      "A  child  left  to  himself  bringeth  his 

mother  to  shame,"  and  his  father  to  grief:  so  natural  and  strong 
11 


122  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

is  the  bent  of  an  evil  nature— so  great  the  power  of  temptation^ 
so  fundamentally  requisite  is  the  wise,  firm,  and  loving  control 
of  parental  government.  While  we  thus  collect  from  the  biog- 
raphy of  this  unhappy  and  erring  youth  a  lesson  of  instruction 
and  warning  for  parents,  and  a  powerful  stimulus  to  the  per- 
formance of  a  great  duty,  we  may  learn  something  as  to  the  dan- 
ger of  temptation,  and  the  progress  of  sin.  The  last  and  fatal 
crime  which  cost  Absalom  his  life,  was  not,  by  any  means,  his 
first  lapse  from  virtue.  He  did  not  fall,  nor  does  any  man  fall, 
at  once  from  innocence  and  uprightness  into  the  depths  of  in- 
famy and  guilt.  His  rebellion,  with  all  its  aggravations,  was 
not  the  sudden  outbreak  of  the  native  depravity  which  is  com- 
mon to  all  men,  but  rather  the  result  and  full-blown  develop- 
ment of  an  advancing  degeneracy  which  had  been  going  forward 
for  many  years,  and  which  had,  on  certain  occasions,  revealed 
itself  in  outward  and  palpable  forms.  The  bloody  vengeance  he 
took  on  his  brother  Amnon,  for  the  crime  he  had  committed 
against  Tamar,  the  sister  of  Absalom,  may  be,  in  some  degree, 
extenuated  by  the  provocation  which  moved  him  to  it ;  yet  the 
fact,  and  especially  the  manner  of  the  deed,  shows  him  to  have 
been  a  man  of  vindictive  spirit.  He  cherished  the  grudge  for 
two  whole  years,  and  then  carried  his  wrathful  purpose  into 
eff'ect  on  a  festive  occasion  at  which  his  brother  was  present  by 
his  own  invitation.  This  occasioned  his  flight  to  Syria,  where 
he  remained  in  exile  for  the  space  of  three  years :  but  the  pun- 
ishment does  not  appear  to  have  wrought  any  improvement  in 
his  character,  and  the  whole  afiair  left  him  in  a  more  hardened 
condition  than  ever. 

We  have  already  adverted  to  the  connexion  between  ambition 
and  cruelty :  may  not  a  like  relationship  be  traced  between  this 
latter  quality  and  personal  vanity  and  pride?    A  man  who  is 


VII.]  Absalom's  death.  123 

filled  with  self-conceit  and  puffed  up  with  vain-glory,  whatever 
its  particular  basis  may  be,  will  commonly  be  found  regardless, 
in  an  equal  degree,  of  the  rights,  the  interests,  and  the  feelings 
of  others.  Self  so  completely  fills  the  sphere  of  his  vision,  that 
he  scarcely  discerns  the  existence  of  anybody  or  anything  else, 
and  is  a  cruel  Moloch,  to  which  every  thing  that  comes  in  its 
way  must  be  sacrificed.  If  we  ascribe  a  character  like  this  to 
Absalom,  we  do  not  go  beyond  the  record.  Beauty  is  generally 
deemed  the  snare,  as  it  is  the  common  endowment  of  the  gentler 
sex.  Doubtless  many  are  too  conscious  of  the  possession,  and 
from  the  fairness  of  the  face,  receive  a  blemish  on  the  soul.  The 
weakness  and  folly  of  their  vanity,  while  quite  without  excuse, 
and  far  from  being  either  innocent  or  harmless,  are  probably 
less  so  than  when  the  same  qualities  are  found  in  men,  and  are 
based  upon  personal  attractions.  The  moral  sense  of  the  world, 
in  reference  to  members  of  the  sterner  sex  who  pride  themselves 
on  the  possession  of  personal  beauty,  is  signified  by  calling  them 
effeminate  (or  like  women.)  This,  without  doubt,  was  a  snare 
to  Absalom.  He  was  famed  throughout  the  nation  for  his  come- 
liness. His  hair  was  observed  with  admiration,  and  was  proba- 
bly "  cultivated"  with  an  assiduity  not  surpassed  by  any  of  the 
moderns.  "In  all  Israel  there  was  none  to  be  so  much  praised 
as  Absalom  for  his  beauty :  from  the  sole  of  his  foot,  even  to 
the  crown  of  his  head,  there  was  no  blemish  in  him :  and  when 
he  polled  his  head,  (for  it  was  at  every  year's  end  that  he  polled 
it;  because  the  hair  was  heavy  upon  him,  therefore  he  polled), 
he  weighed  the  hair  of  his  head  at  two  hundred  shekels,  after 
the  king's  weight." 

The  admiring  eyes  that  were  turned  upon  him,  and  the  in- 
cense of  universal  laudation  which  greeted  his  ears,  flattered  his 
vanity  and  nurtured  his  pride,  till  he  became  a  very  god  in  his 


124  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

own  eyes ;  and  when  lie  reached  that  point,  all  generous  and 
noble  sentiments  were  paralyzed,  and  he  was  an  easy  prey  to 
whatever  temptation  most  powerfully  addressed  the  ruling  pas- 
sion of  his  nature.  The  great  crime  which  finally  revealed  his 
character  and  destroyed  his  soul,  sustained  a  close  relation  to  the 
vanity  and  selfishness  which  had  long  been  growing  up  in  his 
heart.  As  a  tree  stands  erect,  after  its  heart  has  been  consumed 
by  a  slow  decay,  until  the  sweeping  tempest  lays  it  low,  so  he 
maintained  his  position  till  the  course  of  events  presented  a 
temptation  which  found  no  principle  or  power  within  him  to  re- 
sist it,  and  he  fell  to  rise  no  more. 

This  lesson  of  his  life  and  history  is,  that  a  thoroughly  de- 
praved character  is  the  result  of  a  gradual  process  of  moral  de- 
terioration— that  a  fatal  issue  of  one's  career  is  reached  not  at 
a  single  bound,  but  by  many  steps — and  that  "  out  of  the  heart 
are  the  issues  of  life. ' '  And  the  practical  duty  is,  ' '  Keep  thy 
heart  with  all  diligence. ' ' 

The  review  of  his  whole  character  and  life,  connected  with  his 
melancholy  and  tragical  death,  leaves  a  profound  impression  of 
the  evil  and  folly  of  sinful  courses,  and  is  a  solemn  comment  on 
those  Scriptures  which  assure  us  that  the  "way  of  trans- 
gressors is  hard,"  and  the  "end  of  it  death."  His  career  is  a 
warning  to  young  and  old,  to  parents  and  children,  and  espe- 
cially to  young  men,  who  are  so  often  ruined  in  body  and  soul, 
in  time  and  eternity,  by  the  indulgence  of  their  passions  and 
appetites.  To  those  who  are  tempted  to  give  themselves  up  to 
the  promptings  of  ambition,  the  dishonoured  grave  of  Absalom, 
and  the  great  heap  of  stones  thrown  rudely  upon  his  body, 
preach  a  sermon  of  touching  eloquence.  Such  is  the  end  and 
monument  of  those  who  would  climb  to  thrones  and  chairs  of 
state  over  violated  constitutions  and  ruined  nations.     "Pride 


VIL]  Absalom's  death.  125 

goeth  before  destruction,  and  a  haughty  spuit  before  a  fall." 
"  He  that  exalteth  himself  shall  be  abased." 

It  had  been  our  purpose  to  inquire  what  relation  the  crime 
and  calamity  of  Absalom  sustained  to  the  one  great  fault  and 
error  of  his  father's  life— David's  sin  in  the  matter  of  Uriah  the 
Hittite — but  this  we  must  pass  over  with  a  bare  reference  to  the 
circumstances.  Sinning  against  the  family  of  another,  he  was 
sorely  punished  in  his  own.  Because  he  killed  Uriah  with  the 
sword  of  the  children  of  Ammon,  it  was  said  to  him,  "The 
sword  shall  not  depart  from  thy  house."  Thenceforward,  to  his 
dying  day,  domestic  sorrows  oppressed  him ;  and  many  a  dirge- 
Hke  Psalm  was  made  the  vehicle  of  his  bitter  griefs.  God  remit- 
ted the  penalty  of  damnation,  but  chastised  him  with  temporal 
judgments :  so  strict  and  holy  is  he  in  dealing  even  with  his 
saints. .  It  is  a  principle  of  his  government  to  punish  the  sins 
of  parents  in  their  children,  "  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation." 

The  Lord  smote  the  unconscious  babe  of  Bathsheba  with  a 
mortal  sickness  for  its  fkther's  sin.  The  real  blow  and  judgment 
fell  not  on  it,  but  on  him.  It  was  well  with  the  child,  and  ill 
with  the  father.  This  only  seems  severe :  it  is  beneficent  and 
kind.  It  calls  in,  as  a  help  and  stimulus  to  piety  and  well-doing, 
the  parental  instinct — one  of  the  strongest  in  our  natui-e.  If 
you  sin,  your  children  will  suffer. 

The  grief  of  this  poor  afflicted  father  is  one  of  the  most  af- 
fecting spectacles  which  any  history,  sacred  or  profane,  records. 
"Waiting  with  trembling  heart  for  tidings  of  the  battle,  the  sad 
fate  of  Absalom  is  at  length  reported.  The  slain  youth  was  his 
deadliest  foe,  but  then  he  was  his  son !  and  the  king  is  com- 
pletely merged  and  lost  in  the  father.  His  heart  breaks,  and 
his  piteous  lamentations  melt  all  beholders  to  tears ;  and  at  this 


11 


126  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

distance  we  weep  with  him.  Many  Uke  him  have  cried— "  O 
my  son  Absalom!  my  son,  my  son  Absalom!  would  God  I  had 
died  for  thee,  0  Absalom,  my  son,  my  son!" 

May  God  avert,  or  long  postpone,  from  you  and  me  this 
piercing  grief  I 


VIII.]  THE  FINISHED  WORK.  127 


SERMON  VIII. 
THE  FINISHED  WORK. 

John  xix.  30. —  When  Jesus,  therefore,  had  received  the  vinegar, 
he  said.  It  is  finished:  (TertXsorat).  And  he  boived  his  head, 
and  gave  up  the  ghost. 

It  looked  as  if  not  his  work,  but  his  cause,  were  finished! 
The  superscription  fastened  on  his  cross,  in  derisive  mockery  of 
his  pretensions,  proclaiming,  in  letters  of  Hebrew,  and  Greek, 
and  Latin,  to  all  beholders,  "This  is  the  king  of  the  Jews," 
might  have  been  deemed  an  epitaph,  rather  than  a  prophecy, 
and  brought  to  mind  the  fatal  hand- writing  on  Belshazzar's 
palace — "Grod  hath  numbered  thy  kingdom  and  finished  it." 
Never,  in  all  the  history  of  the  world,  did  the  thoughts  of  God 
move  in  a  plane  farther  above  the  thoughts  of  men  and  the 
subtlety  of  devils.  At  the  moment  the  dying  Saviour  uttered 
these  words,  the  plans  of  both  were  hasting  to  their  maturity  ; 
theirs  apparently,  his  really. 

What  wicked  men  did,  under  the  instigation  of  Satan,  to  sup- 
press the  voice  of  truth,  and  to  get  rid  of  One  who  had  disturbed 
their  guilty  repose,  and  set  the  terrors  of  the  Lord  in  array 
against  them,  subserved,  in  a  manner,  the  most  direct,  the  mer- 


128  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

ciful  and  holj^  designs  of  God.  The  murderous  purpose,  which 
for  months  had  been  waiting  its  opportunity,  was  now  blindly 
fulfilling  an  older  purpose  of  Heaven,  and,  in  its  infatuation, 
sapping  the  foundations  of  that  unholy  power  which  it  thought 
to  establish.  How  far  Divine  Wisdom  exceeds  human  craft 
and  hellish  cunning,  was  never  proved  with  such  overwhelming 
demonstration  as  when  Jesus,  "delivered  by  the  determinate 
counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God,"  was  taken,  and,  by  the 
"  wicked  hands"  of  men,  was  "  crucified  and  slain. "  No  provi- 
dential mystery  which  has  ever  cast  its  shadow  on  the  church, 
has  been  so  dark  as  that  at  which  hell  rejoiced,  and  the  hearts 
of  disciples  were  filled  with  anguish  and  despair,  but  out  of 
which  God  has  brought  forth  light,  and  hope,  and  joy,  and  sal- 
vation. If  the  "  wrath  of  man,"  when  vented  against  the  Re- 
deemer himself,  and  not  restrained  until  it  had  accomplished 
his  death,  was  made  to  praise  God  and  bless  the  world,  much 
more  may  we  expect  its  feebler  manifestations  against  the  truth 
and  the  church  to  fail  of  their  aim,  and  to  redound  to  the  greater 
furtherance  of  the  faith  which  they  seek  to  destroy. 

But  our  design  is  not  to  interpret  these  dying  words  of  Jesus 
in  the  sense  of  those  who  may  have  heard  them,  or  in  the  light 
of  the  sad  and  gloomy  appearances  of  that  hour,  but  rather 
from  the  point  of  view — so  far  as  it  is  possible  for  us  to  gain  it 
— of  him  by  whom  they  were  spoken :  and  to  gather  and  bring 
to  bear  on  our  hearts  the  lessons  which  they  most  obviously  sug- 
gest. They  have  a  peculiar  interest  and  tenderness,  from  being 
one  of  the  utterances  which  fell  from  his  lips  on  the  cross ;  and 
one  of  the  last  of  these, — if  we  had  no  record  but  that  of  John, 
— the  very  last. 

These  expressions  are  a  study  of  unspeakable  interest.  They 
were  his  dying  words.     His  bodily  pain  was  excruciating :  his 


VIII.]  THE  FINISHED  WOKK.  129 

mental  anguish  was  awful  and  mysterious :  yet  he  was  singularly 
self-possessed,  and,  until  the  moment  when  he  bowed  his  head 
and  gave  up  the  ghost,  observant  of  the  scenes  about  him,  and 
intent  upon  the  object  of  his  wondrous  mission.  He  spoke  re- 
peatedly. We  treasure  the  words  of  the  dying,  because  we  de- 
sire to  know  what  is  passing  in  the  mind  at  this  solemn  and 
heart-searching  hour.  If  the  words  of  Christ  in  death  are  not 
possessed  of  more  inherent  weight  than  those  he  spoke  in  life, 
the  circumstance  of  their  being  uttered  when  the  waves  of  the 
dark  river  were  surging  about  him,  and  the  burden  of  a  world's 
guilt  was  crushing  his  soul,  must  greatly  enhance  their  impres- 
sion, and  we  listen  to  them  with  tearful  and  sacred  interest.  It 
would  seem  that  after  he  had  been  nailed  to  the  cross,  and  then 
with  rude  violence  it  had  been  dropped  into  the  earth,  the  first 
utterance  was  that  heart-melting  prayer  for  his  murderers, 
"  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do. ' '  Then, 
inclining  his  ear  to  one  who  prayed  to  him  for  salvation,  he  said, 
"Verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  to-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Pa- 
radise." Seeing  her  standing  by  in  whom  old  Simeon's  pro- 
phecy was  receiving  its  bitter  fulfilment,  that  "a  sword  should 
pierce  through  her  soul;" — the  disciple  whom  he  loved  being 
also  near — he  cried — "  Woman,  behold  thy  son,"  and  then  call- 
ing the  disciple  by  his  name,  said, — "Behold,  thy  mother." 
And,  as  the  sorrows  of  his  soul  deepened,  and  a  horror  of  great 
darkness  fell  upon  him,  he  first  exclaimed, — "  My  God,  my  Grod, 
why  hast  thou  forsaken  me,"  then,  with  calm  self-recollection, 
declared,  "  It  is  finished,"  and  at  last,  with  a  confidence  in  God, 
which  even  that  mysterious  shadow  that  hid  his  face  could  not 
impair,  devoutly  said, — "Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commit  my 
spirit,"  and  then, — to  show  how  hterally  exact  were  the  words 
he  spake  when  he  said,  "No  man  taketh  my  life  from  me. 


130  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

but  I  lay  it  down  of  myself," — lie  bowed  his  head  and  gave  up 
the  ghost;  asserting  even  in  death  that  he  was  the  Lord  of 
life. 

From  these  half-dozen  dying  expressions  of  our  gracious  Re- 
deemer, we  select  the  shortest,  but,  in  a  doctrinal  point  of  view, 
perhaps,  the  most  significant: — "It  is  finished."  The  word 
bears  the  sense  of  completeness.  A  house  is  finished,  not  when 
its  foundations  are  laid  and  the  walls  reared,  but  when  it  has 
received  the  last  touch  of  the  mechanic's  tool,  and  nothing  re- 
mains to  'be  done  before  it  is  fit  for  occupancy.  In  this  sense, 
the  work  was  done  to  which  our  Lord  referred,  when  he  used 
the  language  of  the  text.  The  force  of  the  term,  and  the  facts  of 
the  case,  necessitate  a  restricted  application. 

It  cannot  include  anything  which,  as  Mediator,  Christ  after- 
wards did,  and  is  doing  now,  and  shall  do,  until  the  economy  of 
grace  is  closed,  and  the  kingdom  shall  be  delivered  up  to  the 
Father ;  except  it  be  in  the  modified  sense  that,  as  his  death  in- 
volved all  this,  he  might  be  said  to  have  virtually  accomplished 
it.  His  work  as  a  Saviour,  however,  will  not  be  finished  until 
the  last  of  his  redeemed  ones  shall  have  been  called  and  santi- 
fied,  and  the  whole  church,  with  glorious  bodies  and  sanctified 
spirits,  "without  spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing,"  shall 
be  presented  to  Grod,  "  with  exceeding  joy. " 

His  work  as  a  Priest  will  not  be  finished  as  long  as  there  is  a 
sinful  worshipper  on  earth  to  need  his  intercession ;  and  he  will 
sit  on  the  throne  of  his  kingly  mediation,  till  the  "last  enemy" 
shall  be  trodden  under  his  feet,  and  a  risen  church  shall  shout, 
"  0  death,  where  is  thy  sting?  0  grave,  where  is  thy  victory?" 
"Then  cometh  the  end,  when  he  shall  have  delivered  up  the 
kingdom  to  God,  even  the  Father ;  when  he  shall  have  put  down 
all  rule,  and  all  authority,  and  power."    Redemption  in  its  ap- 


VIII.]  THE  FINISHED  WORK.  131 

plication  to  the  souls  of  men  runs  through  all  the  ages  of  human 
history,  and  will  not  be  "finished"  till  it  is  proclaimed  from 
heaven  that  ' '  time  shall  be  no  longer. ' ' 

The  nature  of  the  case  thus  leads  us  to  fix  upon  some  particu- 
lar aspect  of  Christ's  work  which  was  finished  at  the  moment  he 
expired  on  the  cross.  Though  the  ground  of  our  inquiry  is  nar- 
rowed, the  interest  of  the  theme  is  not  diminished.  Our  view 
is  confined  to  what  is  the  very  heart  and  centre  of  redemption. 
The  words  before  us  are  true  in  a  manifold  sense.  We  do  not 
impose  it  upon  them  from  our  own  choice  and  fancy,  but  collect 
it  from  Scripture. 

1.  The  immediate  connexion  of  the  passage  leads  us  to  view 
it  first  of  all,  in  its  relation  to  the  prophecies  which  were  fulfilled 
in  the  death  of  Christ.  Upon  no  fact  of  his  history,  and  upon 
no  part  of  his  work,  do  so  many  types  and  predictions  converge 
as  upon  his  death.  It  was  prefigured  by  every  sacrificial  vic- 
tim that  bled  from  the  beginning,  and  was  the  burden  of  many 
a  psalm  and  prophecy  which  not  only  foretold  the  fact,  but  mi- 
nutely detailed  its  circumstances.  The  paschal  lamb,  fastened 
on  transverse  pieces  of  wood,  and  roasted  whole,  without  the 
breaking  of  a  bone,  was  an  annual  and  standing  type  both  of  the 
fact  aiid  manner  of  his  death.  When  the  soldiers  came  and 
found  that  he  was  dead  already,  they  brake  not  his  legs,  and 
thus  unconsciously  fulfilled  the  Scripture,  which  said,  "A  bone 
of  him  shall  not  be  broken." 

When,  according  to  the  custom,  his  executioners  sat  down  to 
divide  his  clothes  among  them,  and  declined  to  rend  his  seam- 
less coat,  but  cast  lots  whose  it  should  be,  an  ancient  oracle  they 
wot  not  of  was  verified :  ' '  They  parted  my  garments  among  them, 
and  upon  my  vesture  did  they  cast  lots."  In  the  clustering  sor- 
rows and  indignities  which  were  crowded  into  his  last  hours, 


132  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

predictions  that  were  made  ages  before,  received  in  quick  suc- 
cession, and  witli  amazing  precision,  their  exact  accompUshment. 
At  length,  one  only  remained  without  its  verifying  sorrow. 
"The  things  concerning  me,"  said  Jesus,  "have  an  end,"  and 
this  must  be  fulfilled,  even  though  he  himself  make  the  occasion. 
"Knowing  that  all  things  were  now  accomplished,  that  the 
Scriptures  might  be  fulfilled,  he  saith,  ^  I  thirst^  ^' 

That  was  no  fiction,  but  an  awful  fact ;  the  burning,  anguished 
thirst  of  one  dying  slowly  by  torture.  At  the  commencement 
of  the  execution,  he  had  been  ofiered  "vinegar  mingled  with 
myrrh," — a  beverage  provided  for  criminals  doomed  to  capital 
punishment,  and  designed  to  deaden  their  sensibilities.  He  re- 
fused it !  The  cup  which  his  Father  gave  him,  should  he  not 
drink  it?  Every  nerve  must  writhe  in  pain,  and  every  inner 
sense  of  the  soul  sufier  up  to  its  full  capacity :  but  now,  when 
this  has  been  endured,  he  tastes  the  draught,  and  bows  his  head 
in  death,  and  that  other  prediction  passed  into  historic  verity, 
which  said, — "They  gave  me  also  gall  for  my  meat ;  and  in  my 
thirst,  they  gave  me  vinegar  to  drink. ' '  If  any  inquire,  Why 
this  concern  for  the  fulfilment  of  Scripture?  the  answer  is,  not  only 
that  the  truth  of  God  might  be  established,  but  that  the  evi- 
dence of  his  Messiahship  might  be  placed  beyond  all  doubt, 
and  a  sure  foundation  be  laid  for  the  faith  and  hope  of  a  perish- 
ing world.  In  the  matter  of  our  eternal  salvation,  we  cannot 
afford  to  be  left  in  doubt,  and  Grod  does  not  require  us  to  believe 
in  his  Son  without  evidence.  "Him  hath  God  the  Father 
sealed,"  by  miracles  wrought,  and  prophecies  fulfilled,  and 
voices  spoken  from  the  heavens,  saying,  ' '  This  is  my  beloved 
Son;  hear  him."  "Believe  on  him,  and  you  shall  live  for 
ever." 

:2.  In  the  second  place,  we  may  connect  these  dying  words  of 


VIII.]  THE  FINISHED   WORK.  133 

the  Saviour,  witli  the  ceremonial  law  and  typical  worship  of  the 
Old  Testament,  which  foreshadowed  his  divine  and  glorious 
priesthood. 

For  four  thousand  years  the  blood  of  lambs,  and  goats,  and 
bullocks,  had  been  streaming  from  Jewish  and  Patriarchal  al- 
tars :  and  priests  of  families  and  tribes,  and  of  the  united  Israel 
of  God,  had  performed  this  sacred  but  ineffectual  function. 
Acceptable  they  were,  because  of  Divine  appointment ;  but  their 
use  was  to  foreshow  and  teach  men  to  trust  in  the  only  real  and 
availing  priesthood  which  God  has  ever  instituted,  even  that  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  begun  in  the  outer  court  below,  and  car- 
ried on  in  the  holy  of  holies  above.  The  priest,  the  altar,  the 
victim,  the  sprinkling  of  blood,  the  burning  of  incense,  and  all 
else  that  entered  into  the  complex  and  orderly  detail  of  the  Jew- 
ish temple  service,  pointed  to  answering  facts  and  realities  in 
the  person  and  offices  of  Jesus.  All  these,  as  the  Apostle  says, 
were  "A  shadow  of  good  things  to  come,"  but  "the  body," 
(that  cast  the  shadow)  is  Christ.  And  as  their  only  use  was  to 
herald  his  coming,  and  meanwhile  enable  sinful  souls  to  hope 
for  and  rely  upon  a  redemption  yet  future,  they  ceased,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  when  Jesus  appeared  and  performed  the 
priestly  offices  which  they  had  so  long  represented. 

In  so  far  as  those  ceremonial  institutions  were  a  system  of 
laws,  they  expired  by  virtue  of  a  limitation  contained  in  them- 
selves, being  only  "imposed  until  the  time  of  reformation." 
Regarded  in  the  light  of  types,  they  were  displaced  by  the  sub- 
stance, in  the  room  of  which  they  had  stood.  As  means  of 
grace,  they  were  no  longer  required  nor  useful,  when  "grace 
and  truth"  itself  came  by  Jesus  Christ.  "Think  not,"  said  he, 
' '  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets.     I  am  not 

come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil." 
12 


134  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

Every  good  thing  of  which  the  ritual  of  the  Jewish  worship 
gave  pre-intimation,  was  reahzed  in  his  coming,  and  in  token 
that  these  typical  institutions  had  accomplished  their  purpose, 
and  were  done  away ;  an  invisible  hand  rent  the  vail  of  the  tem- 
ple in  sunder  from  top  to  bottom,  in  the  moment  that  Jesus  said 
— "It  is  finished,"  and  resigned  his  spirit  to  the  Father. 
Thus  was  the  neck  of  his  disciples  freed  for  ever  from  the  yoke 
of  "  carnal  ordinances,"  useful  once,  but  now  injurious  to  those 
who  have  passed  from  the  discipline  of  childhood,  to  the  liberty 
of  the  sons  of  God. 

This  "hand-writing  of  ordinances  which  was  against  us,  and 
was  contrary  to  us,  he  hath  taken  out  of  the  way,"  and,  in  the 
manner  of  a  cancelled  obligation,  "  nailed  it  to  his  cross." 

The  ceremonial  law  died  with  Jesus,  and  with  respect  to  it,  he 
might  say — "  It  is  finished." 

3.  A  third  and  obvious  application  of  these  words,  is  that 
which  refers  them  to  the  sufferings  of  the  Saviour.  He  had 
now  filled  up  the  appointed  measure  of  his  sorrows.  The  last 
drop  of  bitterness  had  been  drained  from  the  cup  which  the 
Father  had  put  into  his  hands :  and  we  read  here  both  a  lesson 
of  sadness  and  of  joy — of  sadness,  that  he  suffered  so  much ;  of 
joy,  that  he  should  suffer  no  more.  The  humiliation  of  the  Son 
of  God — may  we  not  say  it  reverently? — is  the  strangest  chapter 
in  the  history  of  divinity.  "  The  man  Christ  Jesus"  was  a  mf- 
ferer — ^yea,  the  very  prince  of  sufferers.  His  whole  earthly  ma- 
nifestation was  one  of  sorrow,  deepening  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end.  Never  were  there  so  manj'^,  or  so  varied,  or  such  pe- 
culiar sorrows  allotted  to  any  member  of  the  human  family.  He 
was  a  man  of  sorroivs,  ' '  acquainted  with  grief. "  "  His  visage 
was  so  marred  more  than  any  man  ;  and  his  form  more  than  the 
sons  of  men. ' '    It  was  an  infinite  humiliation  to  veil  his  Godhead 


VIII.]  THE  FINISHED   WORK.  135 

in  our  weak  flesh,  and  take  the  nature  of  man  into  personal 
union  with  the  nature  of  God.  And  this  he  did,  and  from 
choice,  in  circumstances  of  peculiar  lowliness.  He  was  "born, 
and  that  in  a  low  condition,"  the  child  of  an  obscure  virgin, 
beholding,  at  first,  the  light  of  day,  not  in  the  abodes  of  men, 
but  in  the  habitation  of  brutes !  In  his  infancy,  persecuted  with 
murderous  intent ;  in  his  youth,  ' '  meekly  subject  to  his  parents ; ' ' 
in  his  manhood,  following  the  humble  and  laborious  trade  of  a 
carpenter ;  and  during  his  public  ministry  of  three  years,  greeted 
with  contempt,  cavils,  and  sneers,  by  nearly  all  who  gave  tone 
and  direction  to  public  opinion.  Reviled  of  men  and  tempted 
of  the  devil,  he  keenly  felt  the  sting  of  these  trials,  and  none  the 
less  because  he  was  also  Grod.  But  great  as  were  the  sorrows 
of  his  life,  they  were  not  to  be  compared  with  those  of  his  death. 

Then  he  suffered  in  every  conceivable  way,  and  from  every 
possible  quarter ;  in  his  body,  in  his  soul ;  from  friends,  from 
enemies;  from  man,  from  devils,  from  God!  Behold  him  a 
prosta-ate  suppliant  in  the  garden,  ' '  with  strong  crying  and  tears, 
addressing  his  prayer  unto  Him  that  was  able  to  save  him  from 
death,  and  gauge  the  depth  of  his  anguish  by  the  pleading  im- 
portunity with  which  he  cries,  by  the  nature  of  the  petition  he 
urges,  by  the  agony  and  bloody  sweat  into  which  he  has  fallen!" 
"Exceeding  sorrowful,  even  unto  death,"  was  Jesus  in  that 
hour,  the  point,  perhaps,  of  deepest  depression,  when  his  human 
nature  shuddered  and  shrank  back  from  that  mysterious  suffer- 
ing which  atones  for  human  guilt!  An  angel  appears  from 
heaven,  strengthing  his  fainting  humanity,  and  he  is  prepared 
for  the  ordeal  of  the  cross. 

Hanging  there  in  agonies  unutterable,  the  moments  pass  slug- 
gishly by,  and  his  life's  blood  trickles  from  his  hands  and  his 
feet.    The  reproach  of  sinners  hath  broken  his  heart,  and  when 


136  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

the  load  of  man's  iniquity  wliicli  he  bore  projects  its  dark  shadow 
to  heaven,  and  covers  with  total  eclipse  the  Hght  of  that  face 
which  had  never  before  been  clouded,  that  sinking  of  soul  came 
over  him  which  none  know  but  those  whom  God  forsakes.  The 
cup  of  his  sorrow  is  now  exhausted,  the  last  pang  is  endured, 
and  it  only  remains  for  him  to  say  "It  is  finished,"  and  yield 
his  freed  spirit  unto  God. 

While  this  touching  declaration  thus  points  to  the  fact  and 
the  greatness  of  his  sufi"erings,  it  gives  the  sweet  assurance  that 
they  were  then  ended  for  ever.  They  were  finished^  both  in  the 
sense  of  being  completed  and  terminated.  Though  his  death-bed 
was  a  cross,  he  fell  sweetly  asleep,  and  in  Joseph's  new  tomb 
enjoyed  untroubled  repose.  At  the  time  appointed,  he  awoke 
and  came  forth  with  the  freshness  of  a  new-born  immortality, 
joyful  and  triumphant.  Thenceforward,  his  body  never  felt  a 
pain,  nor  his  heart  a  grief.  Raised  from  the  dead,  he  dieth  no 
more,  and  weeps  no  more.  The  night  of  liis  humihation  is  over, 
and  the  morning  of  his  glory  has  dawned.  Into  "  the  joy  set 
before  him,  for  which  he  endured  the  cross,  despising  the 
shame,"  he  has  entered,  and  through  eternal  ages  he  will  never 
shed  a  tear  or  know  a  sorrow.  And  what  has  already  happened 
to  the  Captain  of  our  salvation,  is  that  which  awaits  ourselves. 
The  moment  of  our  last  sorrow  hastens  on,  and  God,  from  his 
throne,  will  say,  concerning  us,  "It  is  done,"  and  we  shall  go 
to  the  blissful  land  where  "there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither 
sorrow  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain." 
4.  A  fourth  application  of  these  dying  words  of  our  Divine  Lord, 
and  the  most  vital  of  all,  is  that  which  refers  them  to  the  com- 
pleted atonement  for  the  sins  of  men,  which  was  made  when  he 
died  on  the  cross. 
The  humiliation  of  his  life,  and  the  sorrows  of  his  death,  were 


VIII.  ]  THE  FINISHED   WORK.  137 

the  satisfaction  which  the  law  and  justice  of  God  required  of 
those  whose  sins  he  bore  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree.  Deep  as 
is  the  criminality  of  sin,  countless  as  were  the  transgressions  of 
a  guilty  world,  aggravated  as  were  the  offences  of  many,  and  in- 
finite as  was  God's  abhorrence  of  evil,  the  precious  blood  of 
Christ  was  absolutely  all  that  was  needed  or  demanded  to  atone 
for  sin. 

When  he  died,  justice  did  not  ask,  and  could  not  accept  any- 
thing more.  When  the  last  drop  of  his  blood  was  shed,  and  his ' 
dear  life  went  out  a  sacrifice  to  God,  the  atonement  was  made, 
completely  made — incapable  for  ever  of  being  impaired  by  lapse 
of  time  or  sin  of  men,  or  of  being  supplemented  by  human  works. 
In  the  most  absolute  sense  of  the  words,  it  was  "finished,"  and 
henceforth  it  belongs  to  men,  not  to  repeat  it,  as  the  Romanists 
pretend  to  do  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  nor  to  add  to  it 
by  uncommanded  and  vain  austerities,  but  by  humble  faith  to 
embrace  it,  and  with  grateful  joy  to  commemorate  it  in  the  Sa- 
crament of  the  Supper,  till  Jesus  shall  come  the  second  time, 
without  sin  unto  salvation.  In  common  phrase,  we  sometimes 
speak  of  doing  a  thing  "  once  for  all,"  meaning  thereby,  that  we 
do  it  effectually,  and  remove  all  occasion  for  ever  doing  it  over 
again.  In  this  sense  precisely,  it  is  said  by  the  Apostle,  "We 
are  sanctified  by  the  offering  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,  once 
for  all."  The  Jewish  sacrifices,  because  they  possessed  no  in- 
herent efficacy  to  atone,  and  only  typified  the  coming  expiation, 
were  repeated  day  by  day,  and  from  age  to  age. 

' '  But  this  man,  after  he  had  offered  one  sacrifice  for  sins,  for 
ever  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of  God, — for  by  one  offering, 
he  hath  perfected  for  ever  them  that  are  sanctified."  So  cer- 
tainly as  the  death  of  Christ  is  an  accomplished  fiict,  the  atone- 
ment is  a  completed  work.  In  the  moment  his  life  was  extinct, 
12* 


138  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

the  penal  demands  of  Grod's  broken  law  were  satisfied,  "all 
righteousness  was  fulfilled, ' '  and  no  impediment  remained  in  the 
way  of  that  impatient  mercy  which  made  for  itself  a  channel 
through  the  mangled  flesh  and  pierced  heart  of  God's  dear  Son. 
In  that  hour,  the  evangelic  prediction  of  Daniel  passed  into 
actual  history.  ' '  Messiah  was  cut  off,  not  for  himself, ' '  but 
"to  finish  transgression,  to  make  an  end  of  sins,  to  make  recon- 
ciliation for  iniquity,  and  to  bring  in  everlasting  righteousness." 
The  gospel,  therefore,  which  we  preach  to  you  this  day,  is  not 
that  an  atonement  for  sin  is  promised.  That  were  to  remand 
you  back  to  the  twilight  and  shadowy  grace  of  a  by-gone  dis- 
pensation. Nor  that  a  partial  and  incomplete  sacrifice  for  sin 
has  been  made  by  the  sufferings  of  Jesus,  and  needs  to  be  filled 
out  by  works  of  righteousness  and  tears  of  penitence ;  but  the 
good  news  we  bring  you  is,  that  redemption  is  finished,  and  for 
its  actual  power  in  your  pardon  and  peace,  requires  nothing  at 
all  but  naked  acceptance.  "The  uttermost  farthing"  of  your 
enormous  debt  of  ten  thousand  talents  has  been  cancelled  by 
one  who,  "though  he  was  rich,  for  your  sakes  became  poor." 
It  was  liquidated  in  his  streaming  blood ;  the  bond  has  been 
taken  up  by  your  "  surety,"  and,  if  we  may  compare  the  mys- 
teries of  redemption  with  the  transactions  of  earth,  the  gospel 
is  God's  written  discharge  from  the  penal  claims  of  law  and  jus- 
tice against  all  believing  sinners.  "A  just  God  and  a  Saviour  " 
is  he:  and  his  covenant  name,  "Jehovah  Tzidkenu,  The  Lord 
OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS."  Do  ye,  my  brethren,  comprehend  well 
this  glorious  mystery  ?  Is  it  dear  to  your  understandings,  and 
does  it  pour  divinest  consolation  into  your  hearts,  that  you,  who 
are  unholy  and  guilty,  and  hell-deserving  sinners,  are  freely  and 
completely,  now  and  for  ever,  "accepted  in  the  Beloved  ?"  justi- 
fied by  a  righteousness  not  your  own,  exactly  as  if  it  were  your 


VIII.]  THE  FINISHED  WORK.  139 

own,  being  made  over  to  you  by  the  gracious  act  of  God  ?  Do 
you  know  and  feel  that  your  standing  in  his  sight  depends  not 
on  your  fitful  frames,  imperfect  obedience,  and  sin-defiled  works, 
but  on  the  "obedience  unto  death"  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ? 

Until  you  receive  this  central  truth  of  the  gospel  into  your 
heart  of  faith  and  love,  "the  spirit  of  bondage  again  to  fear," 
will  be  ever  and  anon  returning  to  you,  and  you  will  have  but 
small  experience  of  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  has  made  us  free. 

Believe  it  then,  ye  sad  and  downcast  disciples,  that  the  one 
only  sacrifice  of  Calvary,  avails  for  your  present  and  eternal  justifi- 
cation !  That  for  the  righteousness'  sake  of  Jesus,  God  not  only 
pardons  but  accepts  you ;  not  only  tolerates  you  in  his  dominions, 
and  suffers  you  to  live  out  of  hell,  but  adopts  you  into  his  fa- 
mily, loves  your  person,  approves  your  weak  but  sincere  obedi- 
ence, and  destines  you  to  the  glories  of  heaven  and  a  blissful 
immortality !  The  atonement  was  finished  the  moment  Jesus 
died ;  and  your  justification  was  finished  the  moment  you  first 
believed  with  a  true  faith  and  a  penitent  heart.  ' '  Believest 
thou  this?"  Then  let  your  joy  be  full,  and  your  "  songs 
abound,"  and  the  peace  which  passeth  all  understanding  fill  your 
hearts ! 

In  this  faith,  come  to  the  memorial  supper  which  sets  before 
you  the  finished  sacrifice  of  Jesus,  and  while  the  sight 

"  Dissolves  your  heart  in  thankfulness, 
And  melts  your  eyes  to  tears," 

with  sweet  affiance  your  soul  will  embrace  and  magnify  the  Lord, 
and  along  with  the  profoundest  sense  of  personal  unworthiness, 
will  blend  the  sense  of  your  Saviour's  merit,  and  you  will  sit  in 
peace  "  beneath  the  droppings  of  his  blood." 

And  while  this  foundation-truth  of  the  Redeemer's  completed 
atonement  ministers  comfort,  inspires  hope,  and  lifts  a  crushing 


140  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

burden  from  the  hearts  of  Christians,  it  presents  the  gospel  to 
those  who  are  strangers  to  its  peace  and  pardon,  in  an  aspect  of 
greatest  encouragement  and  most  persuasive  power.  If  men 
are  thoroughly  indifferent  on  the  subject  of  religion,  it  will,  of 
course,  awaken  no  interest,  and  be  dismissed  with  less  attention 
than  more  superficial  phases  of  truth,  just  because  it  is  the  in- 
nermost and  hoHest  of  gospel  doctrines.  It  is  not  to  be  expected 
that  unawakened  and  unconvinced  sinners  will  heed  the  an- 
nouncement that  an  all-sufficient  atonement  has  been  made  and 
finished  by  Jesus  Christ. 

But  I  do  expect  and  believe  that  this  declaration  will  be  glad 
tidings  of  great  joy  to  any  among  you  who  feel  your  sins  and  are 
aware  of  your  danger.  I  tell  you,  then,  in  the  name  of  Him 
who  made  the  sacrifice,  that  it  is  finished  and  complete  ;  of  vir- 
tue, such,  that  "though  your  sins  were  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be 
white  as  snow ;  and  though  they  were  red  like  crimson,  they  shall 
be  as  wool;"  and  so  absolutely  universal  in  its  adaptation,  suf- 
ficiency, and  offer,  that  "whosoever  believeth  in  him  shall  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 

If  you  feel  that  you  are  guilty,  and  need  pardon — that  you  are 
a  sinner,  and  need  salvation — consider,  I  pray  you,  how  exactly 
a  finished  atonement  suits  your  case.  If  it  were  incomplete, 
who  could  "finish"  it?  Could  you?  Your  works,  your  tears, 
your  prayers,  your  blood  could  not  be  blended  with  the  sacrifice 
of  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God.  They  have  no  atoning  virtue, 
and  they  are  not  needed.  If,  therefore,  you  desire  to  be  saved, 
you  may  be,  and  saved  now !  The  burden  of  your  guilt  you  need 
not  bear  for  another  hour.  "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God"  taking 
it  away ;  and  in  this,  your  act  of  faith,  the  condemnation  of  sin 
will  be  tnkcn  from  your  conscience,  and  the  sense  of  forgiveness 
will  rise  in  your  heart. 


VIIL]  THE  FINISHED  WORK.  141 

It  is  the  spirit  of  self-righteousness  and  unbelief  which  prompts 
you  to  wait  for  deeper  conviction,  more  bitter  repentance,  and  a 
certain  routine  of  duties  and  ordinances  before  you  come  directly 
to  Jesus  for  salvation.  This  is  ignorance  of  the  very  gospel. 
Not  you,  but  Christ  is  the  Saviour.  Trust  in  him,  and  live. 
Look  to  him,  and  be  saved. 

I  "  On  the  bloody  tree  behold  him, 

Hear  him  cry,  before  he  dies, 

It  is  finished ! 
Sinner,  -will  not  this  suffice  ?" 

There  are  men  who,  without  avowing  it  as  a  theory  of  salva- 
tion, entertain  a  vague  notion  of  finding  acceptance  with  God,  on 
the  ground  of  their  good  character.  In  that  view,  what  becomes 
of  the  finished  redemption  of  the  Lord  Jesus?  If  courtesy,  and 
decency,  and  morality,  and  philanthropy,  and  ritual  worship,  are 
an  adequate  righteousness  for  the  justification  of  men,  and  they 
can  do  all  these  things  "without  Christ," — as  it  is  plain  they 
can, — then  why  did  he  die  at  all?  Their  Christianity,  if  they 
call  it  such,  leaves  out  the  cross.  Grod's  judgment  and  theirs, 
as  to  the  way  a  sinner  may  be  saved,  are  wide  as  the  poles  apart. 
He  holds  up  a  crucified  Redeemer;  they  hold  up  what  they 
complacently  term  good  works.  They  think  these  works  a  beau- 
tiful robe;  God  accounts  them  "filthy  rags."  They  go  about 
to  establish  their  own  righteousness :  the  word  of  faith  pro- 
claims "  Christ  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness  to  every  one 
that  believeth."  "We  read  of  some  imperfect  and  erring  Chris- 
tians who  build  upon  the  true  foundation,  but  because  they 
build  with  "wood,  hay,  and  stubble,"  are  "saved  as  by  fire," 
narrowly  escaping  the  damnation  of  hell,  but  there  is  no  revela- 
tion that  those  who  build  the  house  of  their  hopes  on  such  ma- 


142  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

terials  will  meet  with  anything  else  than  bitter  and  eternal  dis- 
appointment. 

And  then,  finally  there  is  a  class  of  persons  (and  we  grieve  to 
say  it  is  a  large  one)  who  are  profoundly  indifferent  to  the  sub- 
ject of  their  personal  salvation,  many  of  them  made  so  by  a  con- 
ception of  the  Divine  mercy,  at  once  unscriptural  and  fatal  to  the 
soul  that  entertains  it.  They  are  at  ease,  and  imagine  that  God 
is  too  merciful  to  reckon  severely  with  them  for  their  short-com- 
ings and  imperfections,  as  they  softly  name  sins.  The  light  that 
shines  from  the  Saviour's  finished  redemption,  dissipates  this 
refuge  of  darkness  and  of  lies.  If,  in  all  the  actual  or  possible 
emergencies  of  the  Divine  government,  there  ever  was  an  in- 
stance or  an  hour  when  justice  would  relax  its  rigours  and  remit 
its  claims,  it  was  when  the  dear  Son  of  God  was  called  upon  to 
pay  the  forfeit  of  human  guilt.  But  was  it  so?  Was  he  spared 
one  pang  at  the  pleading  of  mercy?  Did  the  Father's  infinite 
love  take  from  the  poisoned  chalice  that  was  put  to  the  Hps  of 
Jesus  one  of  its  bitter  ingredients,  or  say,  "It  is  enough,"  be- 
fore he  had  received  its  last  drop?  In  a  sense,  the  Father  him- 
self—like the  typical  father  of  old,  who  bound  his  son — was  the 
executioner.  He  bade  it  proceed,  saying — "Awake,  0  gword, 
against  my  Shepherd,  and  against  the  man  that  is  my  fellow : 
smite  the  Shepherd,  and  the  sheep  shall  be  scattered. ' '  In  the 
light  of  such  an  example,  what  becomes  of  the  hope  loosely 
based  on  your  own  notion  of  his  mercy?  "  If  these  things  have 
been  done  in  a  green  tree,  what  shall  be  done  in  the  dry?" 
"If  God  spared  not  his  Son,  who  is  holy,  harmless,  undefiled, 
separate  from  sinners,  and  made  higher  than  the  heavens,"  how 
shall  he  spare  you,  whose  heart  is  a  stranger  to  his  love,  and 
whose  life  is  in  open  revolt  and  rebellion  against  his  govern- 
ment?   You  are  guilty ;  he  offers  you  pardon  through  his  Son. 


VIII.  1  THE  FINISHED  WORK.  143 

If  you  refuse  this,  ' '  there  remaineth  no  more  sacrifice  for  sins, 
but  a  certain  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment  and  fiery  indigna- 
tion, which  shall  devour  the  adversaries."  "As  though  God, 
therefore,  did  beseech  you  by  us ;  we  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead,, 
be  ye  reconciled  to  God.  For  he  hath  made  him  to  be  sin  for 
us,  who  knew  no  sin ;  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness 
of  God  in  him." 


144  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Scr, 


SERMON   IX. 
HOPINa  AND  WAITING. 

Lam.  iii.  26. — It  is  good  that  a  man  should  both  hope  and  quietly 
wait  for  the  salvation  of  the  Lord. 

This  book  of  Lamentations  is  a  kind  of  supplement  to  the 
Prophecies  of  Jeremiah.  It  describes  as  reaUties  the  sorrows 
which  had  been  before  predicted ;  seeks  to  awaken  repentance 
for  the  sins  which  had  occasioned  them,  and  encourages  the 
suffering  people  of  Grod,  to  hope  in  his  mercy,  and  wait  for  his 
salvation.  The  situation  of  the  captive  Israelites  is  substan- 
tially reproduced  in  the  experience  of  believers,  and  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  church :  and  there  being  a  book  of  Lamentations  in 
Scripture,  accords  with  the  truth  of  our  condition :  and  there  is 
comfort  in  the  fact,  that  the  anguish  we  suffer,  and  the  trials  we 
endure,  have  such  a  recognition  in  the  pages  of  inspiration.  It 
gives  assurance  that  God  "knows  our  sorrows,"  and  provides 
the  needed  succour  and  relief.  The  lamentations  which  grief 
extorts  from  our  hearts,  and  with  which  it  fills  our  habitations, 
find  in  the  heart  of  Jesus  a  sympathetic  response,  and  in  the 
revelations  of  the  Bible,  all  that  is  needed  for  comfort  and  in- 
struction. When  the  children  of  Zion  breathe  their  woes  in 
threnodies  and  tears,  the  tender  compassions  of  their  Lord  are 
deeply  moved,  and  the  strong  consolations  of  his  grace  are  im- 


IX.  1  HOPING  AND   WAITING.  145 

parted.  Their  condition  is  one  of  "  distress,"  but  not  of  "de- 
spair." What  they  suffer  is  discipline,  not  destruction,  and  the 
duty  and  privilege  of  their  situation  are  those  which  the  text 
presents. 

I.  In  developing  the  lesson  of  the  passage,  and  applying  it 
for  edification  and  comfort,  it  falls  first  in  our  way  to  notice  the 
OBJECT  proposed  to  our  hope  and  quiet  waiting.  ' '  The  salva- 
tion of  THE  Lord.  ' ' 

In  its  widest  significance,  salvation  includes  every  form  of  Di- 
vine deliverance  of  which  men  are  the  subjects  or  the  objects. 
Properly,  it  is  the  soul's  deliverance  from  the  power  and  curse 
of  sin.  It  is  justification  by  the  blood,  and  inward  redemption 
by  the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  this  sense,  believers  are  al- 
ready saved.  Their  sentence  of  condemnation  is  reversed,  and 
the  dominion  of  sin  is  broken.  Accepted  and  made  new  crea- 
tures in  Christ  Jesus,  believers  are  now  in  a  state  of  salvation, 
and  in  so  far  as  it  is  a  present  possession,  it  cannot  be  an  object 
of  hope;  for,  "what  a  man  seeth,  why  doth  he  yet  hope  for?" 
But  while  this  is  true  and  very  comfortable,  it  is  equally  true, 
and  revealed  in  Scripture  with  equal  clearness,  that  salvation 
though  begun  is  not  complete,  but  is  gradually  progressive  to- 
wards a  glorious  consummation  which  will  not  be  reached  till 
the  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  is  dissolved,  and  the  soul  is 
clothed  with  its  house  which  is  from  heaven.  Nay, — the  Scrip- 
tures carry  us  forward  to  the  end  of  all  things,  and  teach  us  not 
to  expect  the  perfection  of  our  being  and  the  fulness  of  joy,  till 
Christ  shall  come  the  second  time  without  sin  unto  the  salvation 
of  the  body :  and,  accordingly,  his  q,ppearing  in  glory,  coming  in 
the  clouds  of  heaven  and  with  his  mighty  angels,  is  held  up  as 
the  grand  and  final  object  of  Christian  hope.  Believers  are  ex- 
horted to  "gird  up  the  loins  of  their  mind,  and  wait  for  the 
13 


146  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

grace  which  is  to  be  brought  unto  them," — (not  at  death) — but 
"at  the  revelation,  {awoKaXvipu)  of  Jesus  Christ.  While  in  this  • 
world,  they  are  "  kept  by  the  power  of  God,  through  faith  unto 
salvation,  ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last  time. ' '  The  date  of 
this  "last  time"  is  fixed  by  the  apostle  Paul,  who  Hnks  with  it, 
the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and  makes  that  the  full  harvest  of 
salvation,  compared  with  which  all  that  is  enjoyed  on  earth  is 
no  more  than  first  fruits.  "We  ourselves,  who  have  the  first 
fruits  of  the  Spirit,  groan  within  ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adop- 
tion, to  wit,  the  redemption  of  our  body. ' '  It  thus  appears  that 
in  the  proper  sense  of  salvation,  it  is  a  future  good,  and  so  an 
object  of  hope  :  and  we  shall  not  do  any  violence  to  the  text,  if 
we  find,  in  this  connexion,  one  of  its  applications.  It  is  good 
that  a  man  should  both  hope  and  quietly  wait  for  the  salvation 
which  the  Lord  shall  give  him  in  the  end  of  his  earthly  pilgrim- 
age when  his  soul  is  taken  to  Christ  in  Paradise  ;  and  in  the  end 
of  time,  when  his  body  is  rescued  from  the  dishonour  of  the 
tomb,  and  made  glorious  like  that  of  his  Divine  Redeemer.  It 
is  possible  there  may  not  be  the  same  necessity  for  patient  hope 
and  quiet  waiting  in  this  case  as  in  reference  to  another  sense 
of  salvation  which  we  have  yet  to  notice.  Still  we  judge  it  is  not 
useless  to  any  Christian,  while  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to 
some;. 

There  is  no  danger  that  any  will  hunger  and  thirst  for  perfect 
holiness  with  excessive  longings,  or  too  eagerly  desire  the  beatific 
vision  of  Jesus  Christ ;  but  it  is  possible,  and  there  is  very  great 
danger  that  even  the  best  of  men  may  grow  impatient  of  the 
l)urdens  and  toils  of  hfe,  and  unconsciously  murmur  against  the 
providence  of  God,  by  wishing  to  die  before  their  time,  and  thus 
escape  from  trials  which  it  is  both  their  duty  and  their  interest 
to  bear. 


IX.]  HOPING  AND   WAITING.  147 

However  natural  the  feeling,  it  is  not  quite  certain  that  the 
Psalmist  uttered  a  purely  spiritual  desire  when  he  sighed  for 
"the  wings  of  a  dove,  that  he  might  fly  away  and  be  at  rest." 
When  Job,  stript  of  property,  bereft  of  children,  and  covered 
with  loathsome  ulcers,  took  a  potsherd  to  scrape  himself,  and 
said,  "  I  am  weary  of  my  life :  I  loathe  it ;  I  would  not  Hve  al- 
way, "  it  is  very  evident  that  the  feeling  which  predominated  in 
his  mind  was  intense  disgust  and  dissatisfaction  with  the  life 
that  now  is,  rather  than  a  holy  longing  for  communing  with 
God,  in  that  which  is  to  come. 

He  was  in  a  better  frame  when  he  afterwards  said — "All 
the  days  of  my  appointed  time  will  I  wait,  till  my  change 
come."  And  he  was  standing  on  a  loftier  mount,  and  looking 
through  a  clearer  medium,  when,  at  a  subsequent  date,  he  saw 
salvation  from  afar,  and,  in  the  confidence  of  faith  and  hope, 
exclaimed — "I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth,  and  that  he 
shall  stand,  at  the  latter  daj^,  upon  the  earth :  and  though,  after 
my  skin,  worms  destroy  this  body,  yet  in  my  flesh  shall  I  see 
God."  When  Elijah,  fleeing  from  the  wrath  of  Jezebel,  sat 
down  under  a  juniper-tree,  and  in  utter  despondency  as  to  his 
ever  being  able  to  accomplish  any  more  good  in  the  world,  re- 
quested God  to  take  away  his  life,  and  give  him  admittance  to 
that  peaceful  world  where  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  and 
the  weary  are  at  rest,  he  acted  in  a  manner  that  we  can  very 
well  understand,  and  betrayed  an  impulse  of  which  our  own 
hearts  may,  at  times,  have  been  conscious ;  but  though  he  was 
a  good  man,  this  was  no  part  of  his  goodness.  It  was  begotten 
of  ignorance  and  unbelief.  He  little  knew  the  service  and  the 
honour  which  awaited  him.  He  was  not  to  die  of  starvation, 
and  leave  his  unburied  bones  to  bleach  in  the  wilderness.  While 
he  yet  spake,  angels  were  hovering  over  him  with  needed  sup- 


148  TRUTH  IN  LOVE,  [Ser. 

plies.  When,  in  the  strength  of  that  meat,  he  went  forty  days, 
and  came  to  the  Mount  Horeb,  voices  of  Grod  and  heavenly 
visions  re-assured  his  fainting  faith :  and  after  he  had  cast  his 
mantle  on  Elisha,  instead  of  dying  the  common  death  of  men, 
chariots  and  horses  of  fire  were  commissioned  to  bear  him  aloft, 
in  visible  glory,  to  the  mansions  of  peace.  ' '  Salvation  with 
eternal  glory,"  is  a  thing  to  be  hoped  and  waited  for  :  and  the 
experience  of  these  holy  men  of  old  discovers  a  weak  side  of 
human  nature,  in  reference  even  to  a  thing  so  Christian  and  so 
desirable  as  departing  from  the  body  to  be  present  with  the 
Lord.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  very  few  attain  that  ad- 
mirable balance  of  the  soul  which  Paul  evinced,  in  that  he  did 
not  know  which  to  choose,  being  in  a  strait  betwixt  two,  having 
a  desire  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better,  yet 
perfectly  and  joyfully  willing  to  abide  in  the  flesh,  suffering  and 
toiling  for  the  edification  of  the  church,  and  the  salvation  of  sin- 
ners. Even  Whitefield,  who  at  one  time  wished  for  a  voice  that 
might  be  heard  from  pole  to  pole,  wherewith  to  proclaim  the 
tidings  of  salvation,  at  another  time  was  so  depressed  by  the 
discouragement  arising  from  small  success,  as  to  say  his  great 
consolation  was,  that  in  a  short  time  his  work  would  be  done, 
when  he  should  depart  and  be  with  Christ.  The  remark  having 
been  made  in  the  presence  of  William  Tennent,  and  his  opinion 
on  the  subject  demanded,  he  replied,  with  some  degree  of  ab- 
ruptness, that  he  had  "no  wish  about"  the  time  of  his  death. 
When  further  pressed  by  Whitefield,  he  added — ''No,  sir;  it 
is  no  pleasure  to  me  at  all,  and  if  you  knew  your  duty,  it  would 
be  none  to  you.  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  death ;  my  business 
is  to  live  as  long  as  I  can,  as  well  as  I  can,  and  to  serve  my  Lord 
and  Master  as  faithfully  as  I  can,  until  he  shall  think  proper  to 
call  me  home." — (Log  College,  p.  140.) 


IX.]  HOPING  AND  WAITING.  149 

While  full  and  final  salvation  after  death  and  in  the  resurrec- 
tion, is  thus  an  object  of  hope,  giving  rise  to  the  duty  of  patient 
waiting,  there  are  providential  deliverances,  which  in  Scripture 
are  very  often  called  salvation,  and  which,  as  we  judge,  are  pri- 
marily intended  in  the  text.  When  after  his  people  had  been 
groaning  in  bitter  bondage  for  many  years,  Grod  revealed  his 
power  and  mercy,  and  with  a  high  hand  and  an  outstretched 
arm,  led  them  forth  to  liberty  and  a  rich  inheritance,  this  was 
salvation,  and  under  this  name  it  was  celebrated  in  that  sublime 
song  of  triumph  which  Israel  sang  on  the  shore  of  the  sea,  while 
their  enemies  "sank  like  lead  in  the  mighty  waters. "  "The 
Lord  is  my  strength  and  song:  he  is  become  my  salvation." 
That  too  was  a  great  salvation,  which  Israel  experienced,  when 
after  sowing  in  tears  by  the  rivers  of  Babylon,  they  gathered  the 
remnant  of  the  tribes,  and  with  mingled  tears  and  praises,  laid 
the  foundations  of  their  temple,  and  restored  the  worship  of 
their  God.  In  the  history  of  the  church,  during  and  since 
the  age  of  miracles,  there  have  been  many  salvations ;  interpo- 
sitions of  Grod,  so  necessary,  so  seasonable,  so  evident,  that  they 
were  gratefully  recognized  as  the  operation  of  his  hand.  And 
in  the  life  of  individual  believers,  salvations  are  wrought,  which 
though  they  may  not  attract  the  world's  notice,  are  sweetly  as- 
sured to  his  own  heart,  by  the  manner  and  time  of  their  occur- 
rence, and  the  divine  consolation  with  which  they  are  accom- 
panied. It  may  have  been  an  affliction  grievous  to  bear ;  or  a 
danger  from  which  there  appeared  no  way  of  escape :  or  a  temp- 
tation which  assailed  the  most  vulnerable  part  of  our  nature, 
and  excited  the  worst  passions  of  the  heart. 

Under  the  pressure  of  these  evils,  our  duty  and  our  privilege 

is  to  hope  and  wait  for  the  salvation  of  the  Lord.     This  stands 

opposed  on  the  one  side,  to  the  error  of  despondency ;  sinking 
13* 


150  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  .  [Ser. 

to  inactivity  and  despair,  as  if  there  were  no  salvation  ;  and  on 
the  other,  to  the  sin  of  presumption,  which  is  unwilhng  to  wait 
the  time,  and  submit  to  the  methods  of  God's  providence  and 
grace,  and  resorts  to  human  devices  and  unauthorized  means  of 
dehverance.  It  is  not  the  help  of  man  we  are  to  look  for,  but 
the  salvation  of  the  Lord.  In  all  our  personal  straits  and  temp- 
tations ;  in  all  trials  of  the  church ;  in  all  the  perils  and  calami- 
ties of  the  country ;  and  under  the  dark  cloud  of  mystery  which 
overhangs  the  world,  the  duty  incumbent  on  us,  as  the  rational 
creatures  and  believing  children  of  God,  is  neither  to  sit  down 
in  sullen  despair,  as  if  nothing  but  ruin  were  before  us ;  nor,  trust- 
ing in  our  power  of  endurance,  to  wait  till  the  evil  has  spent  it- 
self, and  passed  away ;  nor  to  put  our  trust  in  an  arm  of  flesh-r— 
in  the  strength,  the  wisdom,  the  policy  of  men — but  it  is  to  look 
on  high  from  whence  cometh  our  help.  In  times  of  distress  and 
great  darkness,  there  is  strong  temptation  to  betake  ourselves  to 
unauthorized  means  of  relief,  which,  besides  the  sin  involved, 
plunge  us  into  deeper  difficulties.  What  promised  to  be  a 
quicker  method  of  deliverance,  puts  farther  off  the  day  of  salva- 
tion. In  his  perplexity,  and  amid  the  clustering  dangers  which 
environed  his  path,  Saul,  instead  of  repairing  to  the  Lord,  went 
to  the  witch  of  Endor,  only  with  the  result  of  deepening  his  guilt 
and  hastening  his  perdition.  Leagues  with  Egypt  and  Assyria 
were  made  by  Israel  to  their  own  hurt ;  they  leaned  on  a  broken 
reed  which  pierced  the  hand,  when  they  might  have  grasped  an 
Almighty  arm.  "The  salvation  of  the  Lord,"  stands  opposed 
to  all  the  human  expedients,  which  spring  from  ignorance,  un- 
belief, and  presumption.  In  all  personal  and  public  trials  and  dan- 
gers, the  only  safe,  and  for  many  reasons,  the  best  course  to  pursue, 
is  this  which  is  indicated  in  the  text, — to  hope  and  quietly  wait  for 
the  salvation  of  the  Lord. 


IX.]  HOPING  AND   WAITING.  151 

II.  And  this  brings  us  to  the  second  general  aspect  of  the 
subject,  which  is  the  thity  inculcated ;  and  in  reference  to  this, 
two  points  in  particular  are  set  forth  with  prominence.  One  of 
these  regards  the  manner,  and  the  other  the  motive  of  the  duty. 
The  duty  is  to  hope  and  wait  for  the  salvation  of  the  Lord :  and 
the  special  aspect  of  the  duty  is  the  patience  with  which  we 
should  hope,  and  the  quietness  with  which  we  should  wait.  The 
design  is  not  to  excite,  but  to  repress  certain  activities  of  the 
soul.  It  is  meant  to  keep  down  impatience,  and  that  childlike 
eagerness  which  cannot  endure  delay,  and  takes  no  account  of 
those  great  laws  of  nature  and  Providence  which  interpose  time 
and  space  between  the  present  trial  and  sorrow  and  the  blessed 
deliverance  in  which  it  is  destined  to  have  its  issue.  Our  impa- 
tience, besides  being  a  sin  against  God,  and  a  source  of  torment 
to  our  own  hearts,  is  utterly  vain,  having  no  power  to  accelerate 
the  unfolding  of  the  Divine  purposes.  The  more  absolutely  quiet 
we  are,  in  the  sense  of  the  text,  the  better  for  ourselves :  and 
this  is  an  instruction  which  none  but  those  who  desire  an  excuse 
for  spiritual  apathy  and  irreligion  will  be  likely  to  misunder- 
stand. Patient  hoping  is  not  insensibility  and  indifference  to 
the  distant  salvation,  nor  is  quiet  waiting  the  same  with  supine 
and  fatalistic  inactivity.  The  man  who  conforms  to  the  direc- 
tion of  the  text,  and  most  fully  exemplifies  the  character  it  de- 
scribes, is  keenly  alive  to  the  value  of  salvation,  and  unceasingly 
active  in  the  performance  of  all  labours,  and  the  use  of  all  means 
that  tend  to  secure  it,  and  which,  by  the  ordination  of  God,  are 
necessary  antecedents  to  its  bestowment.  The  Christian  who 
can  adopt  the  language  of  the  Psalmist  as  descriptive  of  his  own 
subdued  and  chastened  state  of  mind,  saying — "  I  have  behaved 
and  quieted  myself  as  a  child  that  is  weaned  of  his  mother :  my 
soul  is  even  as  a  weaned  child" — is  one  who  hungers  and  thirsts 


152  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

after  righteousness,  and  desires  complete  redemption,  and  works 
out  his  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling ;  and,  as  a  good 
servant  who  waits  for  the  coming  of  his  Lord,  he  stands,  with 
his  loins  girded  about  him,  and  his  lamp  burning. 

He  is  not  quiet  in  the  sense  of  being  asleep,  or  of  neglecting 
his  duty,  but  only  in  the  respect  that  his  heart  is  free  from  the 
unrest  of  discontent  with  his  lot,  and  from  all  fretfulness  under 
the  burdens  of  life  and  the  appointed  conditions  of  salvation. 
His  quietness  is  not  the  apathy  that  springs  from  unbelief,  but 
the  mental  repose  which  is  begotten  of  an  abiding  trust  in  Grod. 

If  not  a  showy  trait,  it  is  a  very  precious  grace,  and  a  very 
difficult  attainment.  There  are  elements  and  tendencies  in  our 
nature  which  draw  us  strongly  in  the  opposite  direction :  and 
for  one  child  of  God  who  exhibits  "the  patience  of  hope,"  and 
quietly  waits  for  his  sajvation,  you  will  meet  with  many  whose 
hearts  are  oppressed  with  needless  anxieties,  or  chafed  under 
the  fetters  of  their  outward  condition,  or  deceiving  themselves 
with  the  thought  that  they  are  yearning  for  heaven  and  immor- 
tality, when  they  are  only  quarrelling  with  the  sort  of  probation 
through  which  they  are  appointed  to  enter  the  rest  which  re- 
maineth  for  the  people  of  God.  It  is  just  as  much  a  Christian 
duty  to  wait  as  to  labour,  and  a  higher  Christian  achievement. 
It  requires  more  self-control,  and  more  thought ;  a  wider  view 
of  God's  methods  in  providence  and  grace,  and  a  stronger  confi- 
dence in  their  infallible  wisdom  and  absolute  certainty.  In  the 
genealogy  of  the  graces,  as  traced  by  Paul,  Hope  is  the  daughter 
of  Experience,  and  out  of  Hope  ariseth  waiting ;  "for  if  we  hope 
for  that  we  see  not,  then  do  we  with  patience  wait  for  it. ' ' 

Both  hope  and  waiting  have  their  germ  in  experience.  It  is 
so  in  the  natural  life  of  men.  The  middle-aged  and  the  old,  who 
have  a  long  while  been  in  contact  with  the  laws  of  our  condition 


IX.  1  HOPING  AND   WAITING.  153 

and  the  realities  of  life,  have  acquired  experience,  and  they 
have  learned  both  to  hope  and  wait  for  the  temporal  blessings 
which  Providence  gives  to  man;  while  children,  who  have  no 
experience,  are  all  impatience  and  impetuosity,  and  if  their 
power  were  equal  to  their  will,  would  overturn  the  order  of  the 
universe. 

These  quiet  graces,  whose  very  nature  forbids  their  being  de- 
monstrative, are,  therefore,  commended  by  their  intrinsic  excel- 
lence ;  and  this  may  be  set  down  as  first  among  the  reasons  why 
"it  is  GOOD  both  to  hope  and  quietly  to  wait  for  the  salvation 
of  the  Lord. "  It  is  morally  good ;  good  in  the  sight  of  God. 
It  is  an  exercise  and  state  of  soul  becoming  our  character  and 
condition  as  dependent  creatures  ;  it  accords  and  fits  in  with  the 
principles  and  plan  of  salvation  which  gives  the  earnest  of  our 
inheritance  now,  reserving  its  fulness  and  perfection  to  a  future 
day  and  another  world — ^which  plants  the  seed  of  grace  in  the 
heart,  and  nurtures  it  by  the  dews  and  rains  of  many  summers, 
and  gives  it  deeper  root  and  inner  life  by  the  frosts  and  stonns 
that  come  in  the  winter  of  our  adversity.  And  as  it  respects 
that  form  of  salvation  which  is  given  as  a  blessing  on  our  labours 
and  an  answer  to  our  prayers, — the  conversion  of  sinners  and 
the  spread  of  Christ's  kingdom, — it  comes  by  little  and  little, 
not  rapidly,  but  gradually,  as  the  leaven  permeates  the  meal,  as 
the  tree  unfolds  from  the  seed,  and  as  the  harvest  is  garnered 
long  months  after  the  seed-sowing.  "Be  patient,  therefore, 
brethren,  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord.  Behold  the  husband- 
man waiteth  for  the  precious  fruits  of  the  earth,  and  hath  long 
patience  for  it  till  he  receive  the  early  and  latter  rain.  Be  ye 
also  patient.  Stablish  your  hearts,  for  the  coming  of  the 
Lord  draweth  nigh."  This  law  of  the  kingdom  which  re- 
quires time,  and  involves  delay,  lies  at  the  foundation  of  hope 


154  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

and  waiting,  and  exalts  them  to  the  value  and  dignity  of  moral 
virtues  and  Christian  graces.  It  is,  therefore,  good  to  exercise 
them. 

Among  the  special  considerations  which  further  show  why  it 
is  good,  and  how  good  it  is  to  exercise  these  graces,  is  the  abso- 
lute certainty  that  those  who  hope  and  wait  for  the  salvation  of 
the  Lord,  shall  not  be  disappointed.  The  more  ardently  we 
hope,  and  the  longer  we  wait  for  an  expected  good,  the  more 
bitter  our  disappointment,  if,  at  last,  we  miss  the  prize.  And 
if,  besides  being  long  expected,  it  is  intrinsically  important,  a 
blessing  so  great  that  to  lose  it,  is  to  make  shipwreck  of  happi- 
ness, and  fail  in  the  end  and  aim  of  life,  the  disappointment  be- 
comes intolerable,  and  crushes  the  spirit.  There  are  men  whose 
nature  it  has  soured  beyond  the  power  of  any  earthly  medicine 
to  cure  and  sweeten.  Judge  then,  how  utterly  insupportable 
would  be  the  anguish  of  those  who  had  gone  through  all  the 
toils  and  sorrows  and  changes  of  time,  hoping  and  waiting  for 
immortality  and  eternal  life,  if  these  pictured  glories  should  van- 
ish into  unsubstantial  nothings,  when  expectation  was  at  its 
highest  pitch ;  or,  retaining  their  reality  and  their  splendour, 
should  be  withheld  from  us,  and  awarded  to  others  who  had  run 
the  heavenly  race  with  more  fidelity !  That  such  disappointments 
will  be  sufi'ered,  we  know,  but  not  by  those  who  commit  the 
keeping  of  their  souls  to  Grod  in  well-doing,  and  who,  with  hum- 
ble faith,  are  hoping  and  waiting  for  his  salvation.  Their 
"hopemaketh  not  ashamed."  That  which  they  have  desired 
and  looked  for  shall  be  received.  Salvation,  as  a  blessing  on 
their  labours,  as  a  deliverance  from  their  troubles,  and  as  the 
complete  redemption  of  their  entire  nature  from  sin,  shall,  in 
God's  own  good  time,  be  given,  and  the  only  surprise  occasioned 
will  be,  that  it  so  far  exceeds  all  that  their  eyes  had  seen,  or  their 


IX.]  HOPING  AND  WAITING.  155 

ears  heard,  or  their  hearts  imagined  of  what  the  Lord  would  do 
for  his  people.  To  get  the  object  desired,  and  then  discover 
that  it  is  a  totally  different  thing  from  what  we  expected,  is 
even  a  worse  disappointment  than  to  miss  it  entirely.  In  neither 
respect  can  the  children  of  God  fail  to  realize  their  hopes.  ' '  The 
hope  of  the  righteous  shall  be  gladness,"  both  in  the  certainty 
and  in  the  glory  of  its  fulfilment.  "Beloved,  now  are  we  the 
sons  of  God.  And  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be ; 
but  we  know  that  when  He  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him. 
For  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is."  And,  my  hearers,  if  you  would 
know  whether  the  hope  that  is  in  you  is  destined  to  have  this 
blissful  fruition,  the  infallible  criterion  is  given.  "And  every 
man  that  hath  this  hope  in"  Christ,  "  purifieth  himself,  even 
as  he  is  pure. ' ' 

In  addition  to  this,  we  may  say  that  hoping  and  waiting  for 
the  salvation  of  the  Lord  are  good  in  their  present  influence. 
Besides  being  morally  good  as  Christian  graces;  and  good  in 
respect  to  the  perfect  safety  of  trusting  in  God  for  the  future  bless- 
ing of  eternal  life,  they  are  good  in  the  sense  of  being  immedi- 
ately beneficial,  both  to  ourselves  and  others.  They  are  greatly 
promotive  of  our  present  happiness.  The  hope  of  future  bless- 
ing and  deliverance  begets  patience  under  the  evils  and  difficul- 
ties of  our  lot,  and  gives  such  satisfying  earnests  of  what  is  in 
reserve,  that  we  are  contented  with  the  condition  assigned  us, 
and  feel,  at  times,  a  peace  which  passeth  understanding.  And 
while  this  heavenly  calm  is  diffused  within,  an  influence  is  shed 
abroad  in  the  whole^phere  of  the  Christian's  life  and  intercourse, 
which  helps  his  brethren  and  honours  religion.  A  believer  who 
possesses  his  soul  in  patience  in  the  midst  of  all  earth's  changes, 
and  when  men's  hearts  are  failing  for  fear  of  the  things  which 
are  coming  on  the  world,  who  stands  on  the  rock  of  God's  eter- 


156  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

nal  truth,  and  avows  his  unwavering  confidence  in  the  justice, 
the  wisdom,  and  the  mercy  of  the  Divine  providence ;  and  ex- 
hibits a  cheerful  hope,  while  he  quietly  waits  for  the  salvation  of 
the  Lord ;  is  a  tower  of  strength  to  his  brethren — a  living  epis- 
tle of  commendation  to  the  religion  he  professes.  Except  it  be 
the  endurance  of  fiery  trials  in  days  of  persecution,  there  is 
scarcely  a  more  signal  exhibition  of  its  power.  When  unbelief 
and  worldliness  throw  those  who  know  not  God  into  a  commo- 
tion of  anxiety  and  fear,  and  when  perilous  times  do  but  stimu- 
late their  avaricious  greed,  and  fire  their  restless  ambition,  let 
the  children  of  the  kingdom  abide  in  peace ;  let  them  stand  in 
their  lot,  and  show  that  Christ  in  the  heart,  the  hope  of  glory, 
contents  and  satisfies  the  needs  and  yearnings  of  an  immortal 
soul.  Wait  with  patience — work  with  hope,  and  sufier  without 
complaint :  and  remember,  the  Lord  is  at  hand.  His  salvation 
is  nigh. 

The  time  is  short.  And  now  ' '  The  God  of  all  grace  who  hath 
called  us  unto  his  eternal  glory  by  Christ  Jesus,  after  that  ye 
have  suffered  a  while,  make  you  perfect,  stablish,  strengthen, 
settle  you.  To  him  be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen." 


X.]  THE  LOVE  OF  CHRIST.  157 


SERMON  X. 

THE  LOVE  OF  CHRIST,  KNOWN,  YET  UNKNOWN. 

Eph.  iii.  19. — And  to  know  fJie  love  of  Christ  which  passeth 
knowledge. 

It  seems  a  contradiction  to  speak  of  knowing  what  cannot  be 
known;  but  like  some  otber  of  the  apostle's  sayings,  tbe  para- 
dox is  a  precious  truth. 

The  discrepancy  is  on  the  surface  and  in  word ;  the  harmony 
is  profound  and  real.  In  one  aspect,  the  love  of  Christ  may  be 
known  ;  in  another,  it  "  passeth  knowledge." 

The  subject  concerning  which  these  dissimilar  statements  are 
made,  is  the  most  important  within  the  scope  of  human  know- 
ledge or  thought.  Christ  is  a  being  with  whom,  in  one  relation 
or  another,  we  all  have  to  do.  It  is  in  him  and  through  him 
that  God  deals  with  our  sinful  world.  Ry  Christ  we  must  be 
saved,  if  saved  at  all,  and  before  his  judgment-seat  we  are  sum- 
moned to  appear.  In  his  character  and  his  feelings  we  have  a 
deep  stake ;  and  to  men  who  are  conscious  of  their  spiritual  ne- 
cessities, no  theme  is  so  comforting  as  this  of  our  text — the  love 
of  Christ — and  just  because  it  "passeth  knowledge"  it  is  ever 
new.  It  is  the  heart  of  the  gospel.  Christ  is  the  manifested 
love  of  God.     The  good  news  from  heaven  is  that  God  loves  the 

world,  and  all  Scripture  centres  in  the  person  and  grace  of  Jesus. 
14 


158  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

The  subject  thus  belongs  to  the  highest  mysteries  of  redemption, 
and  is  purely  spiritual.  It  can  interest  deeply  none  but  a  spiritual 
mind,  or  a  soul  which  the  Spirit  of  God  is  preparing,  through 
the  conviction  of  sin,  to  receive  the  offered  salvation.  It  re- 
quires love  to  appreciate  love. 

The  subject  must  feel,  in  some  degree  at  least,  what  the  ob- 
ject discloses,  or  there  will  be  no  perception  of  its  qualities  ;  and 
hence  the  apostle,  desiring  that  these  Ephesian  Christians  might 
know  Christ's  love,  prayed  that  they  might  first  be  "rooted  and 
grounded  in  love, ' '  as  the  precedent  condition  of  acquiring  this 
knowledge.  If  you  are  a  lover  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  subject  will 
be  pleasant  to  you ;  possibly  it  may  melt  your  heart  into  tender- 
ness, and  fill  you  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  If  you 
are  a  sinner,  burdened  with  conscious  guilt,  you  may  be  led  by 
such  an  exhibition  of  truth  to  lay  down  your  load  at  the  cross. 
And  whatever  your  state  of  mind,  the  theme  cannot  be  inappro- 
priate ;  for  it  is  the  core  of  that  glorious  gospel  which  is  the 
power  of  God  to  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth.  The  love 
of  Christ,  as  known,  and  yet  unknown,  and  unknowable,  is  the 
form  of  truth  which  the  text  exhibits.  We  may  find  both  in- 
terest and  edification  in  developing  the  harmony  of  these  ideas. 
Both  statements  present  the  love  of  Christ  in  the  relation  it  sus- 
tains to  our  intelligence,  the  one  having  regard  to  our  capacity 
of  knowledge,  and  the  other  to  the  limitation  of  that  capacitJ^ 
The  love  of  Christ  is  something  which  may  be  known,  yet  not 
completely  and  exhaustively  known  by  finite  minds.  The  infi- 
nitude of  the  Godhead  belongs  to  it ;  and  we  can  no  more  define 
it  with  the  measuring-rod  and  the  sounding-line  of  our  finite 
faculties,  than  we  can,  "by  searching,  find  out  God,  or  know  the 
Almighty  to  perfection." 

Knowing  God  is  one  thing ;  knowing  him  to  perfection  is  an- 


X.]  THE  LOVE  OF  CHRIST.  159 

other  and  a  different  thing,  possible  only  to  himself.  The  gauge 
of  an  infinite  nature  is  an  infinite  understanding  ;  so  the  measure 
of  infinite  love  is  the  infinite  mind  that  feels  it.  Approaching 
the  love  of  Christ  from  our  point  of  view,  and  with  our  powers 
of  api^rehension,  we  find  that  it  is  something  which  may  be 
known — that  is,  which  may  be  discovered  and  certified  to  our 
souls  as  a  divine  reality — and  yet  that  there  is  an  amplitude  and 
an  immensity  belonging  to  it  which  stretches  far  beyond  our 
present  vision ;  and,  in  this  respect,  it  is  unknown,  and  must 
for  ever  remain  so.  There  are  two  familiar  facts  of  experience 
which  harmonize  the  seeming  contradiction  of  the  text.  One  is 
the  distinction  between  partial  and  complete  knowledge,  in  al- 
most every  department  of  human  research.  There  are  very  few 
subjects,  if  any,  of  which  our  knowledge  is  perfect,  including 
not  only  all  that  is  known,  but  all  there  is  to  know. 

We  encounter  impassable  boundaries  in  every  direction.  We 
can  tell  the  sensible  qualities  of  a  clod  of  unorganized  matter, 
but  while  we  know  there  is  a  substance  which  underlies  those 
qualities  and  hides  behind  them,  we  cannot  discern  it,  and  much 
less  describe  it.  We  look  on  a  blade  of  grass,  perceive  its  colour, 
form,  texture,  and  assign  it  to  its  place  according  to  the  classifi- 
cations of  botany,  but  that  occult  principle  of  vegetable  life  which 
determines  its  growth  and  species,  eludes  all  scrutiny  of  micro- 
scope or  metaphysics.  In  one  sense  it  is  known ;  in  another  it 
passes  knowledge.  We  stand  on  the  shore  of  the  ocean,  and  its 
illimitable  expanse  stretches  out  to  the  point  where  sky  and 
water  seem  to  touch.  We  speak  truly  when  we  say  we  have 
seen  the  ocean ;  but  our  knowledge  is  almost  nothing,  compared 
with  our  ignorance.  We  have  only  gazed  on  its  surface ;  we 
have  not  gone  down  in  fancy  even  to  its  ' '  dark,  unfathomed 
caves,"  where  the  waters  sleep  in  perpetual  repose;   and  we 


160  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

have  surveyed  but  a  little  patch  of  an  area  that  is  almost  im- 
mense. The  same  disparity  exists  between  our  knowledge  and 
our  ignorance  of  all  the  works  of  Grod.  They  are  all  invested 
with  the  mystery  which  belongs  to  himself— the  Infinite  and  the 
Eternal.  Of  Creation,  Providence,  and  Redemption,  it  is  alike 
true — "we  know  in  part."  It  is  because  we  are  finite,  and  God 
is  infinite.  The  love  of  Christ  is  referable  to  the  same  law. 
We  know  it,  and  yet  we  know  it  not.  Where  the  difi'erence  be- 
tween the  known  and  the  unknown  is  so  great,  it  frequently 
happens  that  subsequent  discoveries  greatly  modify  previous 
views ;  and  sometimes  what  we  had  called  and  considered  know- 
ledge "  vanishes  away"  in  the  clearer  light  to  which  we  have  at- 
tained :  and  the  question  arises,  whether  what  we  know,  or  think 
we  know  of  Christ  and  his  redeeming  love,  may  not  be  subject 
to  the  like  mutations,  and  be  displaced  by  future  disclosures. 
Seeing  through  a  glass  darkly,  perhaps,  it  is  but  shadows  and 
illusions  we  behold.  Looking  with  childish  eyes,  and  thinking 
with  a  child's  understanding,  may  we  not  hereafter,  becoming 
men,  put  away  as  puerilities  what  now  we  dignify  as  know- 
ledge? 

In  the  world  of  philosophy  and  metaphysics,  theory  has  chased 
theory  like  the  flitting  clouds  of  the  sky :  and  even  in  the  do- 
main of  natural  science,  the  knowledge  of  one  age  has  been 
proved  to  be  ignorance  by  the  next.  Have  we  any  guarantee  in 
the  matter  of  our  salvation,  that  what  we  know  of  Christ  and 
his  love  will  not  in  like  manner  be  dissipated  by  the  clearer  light 
of  coming  revelations?  This  suggests  a  second  remark  touching 
the  difference  between  knowing  anything  experimentally,  and 
knowing  it  comprehensively,  or  the  difference  between  knowing 
its  nature  and  reality,  and  knowing  its  extent  or  amount.  In 
the  former  sense  the  love  of  Christ  may  be  known :  in  the  latter 


X.]  THE  LOVE  OF  CHRIST.  161 

it  passeth  knowledge.  Though,  in  a  comparative  view,  it  is  but 
little  of  it  that  we  know  bj''  experience,  the  knowledge  thus  ac- 
quired is  of  such  a  nature  as  to  give  perfect  assurance  to  the 
mind.  The  evidence  is  like  that  of  the  senses :  it  is  the  touch 
and  taste  of  the  soul.  If  you  quench  your  thirst  at  a  spring 
which  gurgles  up  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain,  you  have  as  com- 
plete and  certain  knowledge  of  water,  as  though  you  could  pene- 
trate the  hidden  recesses  from  which  that  spring  arose,  or  could 
follow  it  in  all  its  meanderings,  and  observe  its  increase  till  it  min- 
gled in  the  great  river,  and  finally  is  lost  in  the  mighty  ocean. 
You  know,  by  that  single  draught  of  a  cupful,  the  qualities  of 
water,  though  you  know  not  its  extent — whence  it  comes 
and  whither  it  goes.  It  is  thus  with  the  believer's  knowledge 
of  Christ's  love.  He  tastes,  and  sees  that  the  Lord  is  gracious ; 
but  as  to  comprehending  the  length,  and  breadth,  and  depth, 
and  height  of  that  whose  reality  and  nature  he  is  assured  of,  this 
is  quite  impossible.  It  will  form  an  eternal  study,  and  affords 
room  for  endless  progress.  But  that  progress  will  be  in  the  line 
on  which  he  has  already  started.  It  will  be  just  knowing  more 
and  more  of  the  extent  of  that  love  of  which  he  already  knows 
the  nature  by  experience.  All  the  witnesses  or  the  philosophers 
in  the  world,  or  that  ever  will  be  in  the  world,  could  neither 
deepen  nor  destroy  any  man's  conviction  as  to  the  adaptedness 
of  water  to  quench  thirst ;  experience  is  the  highest  and  the  last 
evidence  that  the  case  admits  of,  and  this  he  has.  The  love  of 
Christ  is  witnessed  to  the  sense  of  the  inner  man  in  the  same 
way.  ' '  He  that  believeth  hath  the  witness  in  himself  "  "  The 
water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  hving  water 
springing  up  into  everlasting  life. ' ' 
It  thus  appears  how  the  love  of  Christ  in  one  view  is  known, 

and  in  another  unknown,  and  what  the  security  is  that  nothing 
14* 


162  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Scr. 

that  shall  be  developed  in  time  or  eternity  can  essentially  change 
the  views  and  impressions  of  it,  which  the  Christian  now  enter- 
tains. The  only  sense  in  which  change  is  possible,  is  the  better 
knowledge  of  what  he  already  knows  imperfectly ;  and  the  ma- 
turing of  those  experiences,  the  germs  of  which  are  already  im- 
planted :  and  this  is  a  process  which,  for  aught  that  appears, 
may  go  on  for  ever. 

New  aspects  and  exhibitions  of  the  love  of  Christ  may  con- 
tinue to  be  unfolded  through  immortal  ages.  Taking  with  us 
the  twofold  conception,  the  truth  and  harmony  of  which  we 
have  thus  endeavoured  to  set  forth,  we  may  now  come  to  the 
direct  consideration  of  our  Redeemer's  love,  in  those  qualities 
and  manifestations  of  it  which  are  revealed  in  Scripture,  and  as- 
certained b}'^  experience.  In  every  view  we  can  take  of  it,  it  will 
be  found  a  "love  that  passeth  knowledge." 

We  might  trace  its  antiquity,  and  we  should  find  its  origin  in 
the  remoteness  of  a  past  eternity.  It  antedates  the  existence  of 
man,  and  the  foundation  of  the  world.  In  the  certain  foreknow- 
ledge that  the  creature  he  had  proposed  to  make  would  fall, 
"  the  Word  who  was  in  the  beginning  with  God  and  was  God," 
had  thoughts  of  love  to  man,  and  the  Counsel  of  Redemption 
was  entered  into  between  the  Persons  of  the  Godhead.  "  From 
everlasting,  from  the  beginning,  or  ever  the  earth  was,"  the  wis- 
dom, the  Aoyoj,  the  Eternal  Son  of  God  existed,  and  his  delights 
were  with  the  sons  of  men.  Yielding  himself  to  the  Father's 
will,  in  reference  to  the  salvation  of  the  fallen  race,  Christ  was 
from  everlasting  "fore-ordained"  to  be  the  Redeemer  of  sinners. 

Here  is  a  mystery  deep  and  awful  as  the  interior  nature  and 
the  relation  of  person  in  the  triune  God.  That  is  a  mysterious, 
an  incomprehensible  love,  which  anticipated  our  fall,  our  exist- 
ence, the  creation  of  the  world  in  which  we  live,  and  provided 


X.]  THE  LOVE  OF  CHRIST.  163 

for  an  emergency  which  was  almost  infinitely  distiiwt.  Nor  was 
it  a  mere  governmental  plan,  a  politic  calculation  of  what  was 
best  to  be  done  in  the  case  that  was  certain  to  arise.  The  Scrip- 
tures do  not  so  represent  the  matter :  but  in  the  most  express 
terms  ascribe  the  whole  scheme  to  the  love  and  compassion  of 
God.  "  Christ  loved  the  church,  and  gave  himself  for  it,"  and 
"  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  Son." 

In  its  antiquity — ^its  absolute  eternity — the  love  of  Christ  is 
mysterious,  and  solemnly  impressive. 

It  "  passeth  knowledge,"  in  the  sovereignty  of  its  discrimina- 
tions. If  it  is  a  wonder  that  he  should  love  apostate  creatures 
at  all,  it  is  even  more  a  mystery  that  he  should  distinguish 
among  creatures  equally  guilty  and  miserable :  j^et,  that  he  has 
done  so  is  a  fact  revealed  in  the  word  of  God,  and  in  the  pre- 
sence of  which  we  can  only  say,  as  he  himself  said, — "Even  so. 
Father,  for  so  it  seemed  good  in  thy  sight. ' '  Angels  were  a  no- 
bler race,  earlier  created,  and  sooner  undone  by  sin.  Their  re- 
bellion extinguished  God's  love  for  them ;  and  thunderbolts  of 
vengeance  hurled  them  down  to  hell,  where  they  are  reserved  in 
chains  and  darkness  unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day.  From 
their  exalted  nature  it  is  probable  that  they  suffer  beyond  any- 
thing that  men  can  suffer.  They  need  redemption  therefore, 
and  it  would  be  a  bold,  if  not  presumptuous  assertion,  to  say 
they  are  for  any  reason  incapable  of  being  redeemed.  We  do 
not  know  that  it  was  impossible  to  Almighty  power  and  infinite 
wisdom.  We  only  know  the  fact  that  it  was  not  done — a  fact 
not  only  mentioned  in  Scripture,  but  brought  in  for  the  purpose 
of  illustrating  the  rich  and  sovereign  grace  which  redeems  sin- 
ners of  mankind :  ' '  Christ  took  not  on  him  the  nature  of  angels ; 
but  he  took  on  him  the  seed  of  Abraham." 

Creatures  who  once  had  shone  as  seraphs  near  the  throne  of 


164  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

Grod,  were  passed  by  and  left  without  a  Saviour,  and  without 
hope,  while  to  us,  who,  among  rational  creatures,  are  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  scale,  Christ  came  to  seek  and  save  the  lost. 

Can  you  solve  the  mystery  of  this  sovereign  discrimination  ? 
And  is  not  this  very  mystery  an  element  in  the  moral  power  of 
the  love  that  saves  us  ?  Kindred  to  this  in  nature  and  in  mystery 
is  the  sovereign  freeness  of  Christ's  love  to  individual  sinners  of 
our  race. 

It  is  a  glorious  truth  that  the  love  and  redemption  of  Christ 
have  relations  to  all  mankind.  The  nature  which  Jesus  assumed 
into  unity  with  his  eternal  divinity,  is  that  borne  by  every  indi- 
vidual of  the  race  which  Grod  hath  made  of  "one  blood,  to 
dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth. ' '  The  atoning  virtue  of  the 
blood  he  shed  on  Calvary,  is  such  as  justifies  the  ofi'er  of  salva- 
tion to  "  every  creature  under  heaven,"  and  warrants  the  faith 
of  every  one  who  is  willing  to  receive  it.  To  this  extent  and  in 
this  sense,  God  loves  the  world,  and  there  is  no  difference  be- 
tween the  Jew  and  the  Grreek,  or  between  one  man  and  another. 
But  in  point  of  fact,  how  wide  the  difference  which  by  his  pro- 
vidence he  puts  between  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  between 
individuals  in  the  same  community  ?  As  it  respects  the  means 
of  grace  and  the  offer  of  salvation,  some  have  them,  and  others 
have  them  not,  and  this  difference,  in  a  multitude  of  instances, 
is  linked  with  salvation,  and  in  all  cases,  sustains  an  important 
relation  to  it. 

Furthermore :  within  the  circle  of  those  who  live  under  the 
light  of  the  gospel,  there  is  "an  election  of  grace,"  composed 
of  actual  believers.  Many  of  those  before  me  this  morning, 
have  an  humble  trust  that  they  are  of  the  number.  To  such  I 
propound  the  inquiry — How  came  you  to  be  a  believer  in  Jesus, 
while  so  many  around  you  live  and  die  in  impenitence  ?    Is  it 


X.]  THE  LOVE  OF  CHRIST.  165 

because  you  were  by  nature,  better  than  tbey  ?  No,  in  no  wise. 
Ygu  were  the  child  of  wrath  and  the  servant  of  sin,  even  as 
others.  The  Scriptures  ascribe  the  cause  of  the  difference  to 
the  special  love  and  special  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
by  the  effectual  working  of  his  Spirit  applies  the  redemption 
which  he  purchased  by  his  blood ;  and  all  true  believers  confess 
the  fact  when  their  Christian  heart  finds  utterance  in  devotion. 

They  thank  God  for  providing  redemption,  but  more,  if  possi- 
ble, for  applying  it.  That  is  a  form  of  love  more  tender, 
special,  and  personal.  It  brings  our  individual  soul  under  the 
eye  of  Omniscience,  and  the  thought  that  the  heart  of  Jesus 
flowed  forth  to  us,  is  quijl-  overwhelming.  When  you  behold 
him,  the  babe  of  Bethlehem,  you  wonder  and  adore,  and  are 
ready  to  lay  at  his  feet  the  costliest  oblations  of  earth ;  gazing 
at  him  on  the  cross,  you  mourn  for  him,  and  weep  for  your  sins ; 
but  when  he  comes  to  you  yourself,  with  garments  died  on  Cal- 
vary, the  good  Shepherd  following  his  wandering  sheep  in  the 
wilderness,  and  bearing  it  back  to  the  fold  in  safety  and  in 
triumph,  youi'  inmost  soul  is  melted,  and  you  break  forth  in 
that  song  which  is  the  prelude  of  heaven's  eternal  anthem,  to 
Him  that  loved  us  and  washed  us  in  his  own  blood : — 

"  Jesus  sought  me  when  a  stranger, 
Wandering  from  the  fold  of  God." 

"By  the  grace  of  God,  I  am  what  I  am."  "God  who  is 
rich  in  mercy,  for  the  great  love  wherewith  he  loved  me,  even 
when  I  was  dead  in  sins,  hath  quickened  me  together  with 
Christ." 

The  love  of  Christ  to  the  individual  heirs  of  salvation  is  its 
most  precious  and  potent  element :  but  certainly  also,  the  most 
mysterious.  You  have  often  asked  the  reason  why,  only  to  an- 
swer with  adoring  wonder  and  thankful  tears. 


166  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

Unsearcliable  in  its  sovereign  freeness  to  individuals,  the  love 
of'Clirist  "passeth  knowledge"  in  the  nature  and  extent  of  its 
sacrifices.  The  accepted  standard  and  measure  of  love  is  the 
amount  of  what  it  will  do,  give,  and  sufi'er,  for  its  object.  Human 
love  is  tested  thus,  and  sometimes  is  proved  to  be  very  small, 
though  sometimes  as  deep  as  that  which  a  person  feels  for  him- 
self The  profession  of  love,  if  unsupported  by  substantial  and 
visible  fruits  in  act  and  service,  is  justly  suspected  of  insincerity : 
if  it  have  these  seals,  it  needs  no  verbal  declaration.  That  man 
is  our  best  and  most  devoted  friend  who  sacrifices  and  suffers 
most  on  our  behalf. 

Pleasant  words,  courteous  acts,  atiflfl  all  the  gentle  charities  of 
life,  are  not  without  their  value,  but  it  requires  a  heart  of  warm 
and  deep  affection  to  suffer  for  us.  A  parent  will  do  it  for  the 
child  that  is  bone  of  his  bone,  and  flesh  of  his  flesh,  but  outside 
the  circle  of  nearest  and  dearest  kindred  this  style  of  love  is 
seldom  seen.  The  love  of  Christ  is  peculiarly  and  pre-eminently 
a  suffering  love.  As  a  Redeemer,  his  pathway  lay  through  the 
midst  of  mighty  sorrows  and  mysterious  suff"erings:  but  he 
"  loved  the  church,"  and  therefore  gave  himself  for  it,  to  all  the 
humiliation  and  the  grief  involved  in  its  salvaiion. 

From  the  time  he  left  his  glorious  throne,  to  the  hour  he  re- 
turned to  it,  he  was  a  suff'erer,  either  in  the  sense  of  deprivation 
or  of  positive  pain :  and  his  suff"erings  were,  for  many  reasons, 
incomprehensible  and  mysterious.  It  is  an  accepted  article  of 
theology,  that  the  Grodhead  is  impassible,  or  incapable  of  suffer- 
ing, yet  the  only  form  in  which  we  can  think  of  the  Incarnation, 
is  that  of  an  obscuration  of  his  glory,  a  laying  aside  somewhat 
which  made  the  act  a  sacrifice,  and  the  assumption  of  somewhat 
which  involved  humiliation  in  the  second  Person  of  the  Trinity. 
The  Scriptures  so  present  the  subject,  and  we  need  not  fear  to 


X.]  THE  LOVE  OF  CHRIST.  167 

follow  where  they  le*ad  us.  "Ye  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that  though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  your  sakes  he  be- 
came poor." 

"When  we  behold  him  on  earth,  the  Godman,  the  Christ,  there 
is  no  difficulty  felt,  when  we  think  of  him  as  a  sufferer ;  and  from 
first  to  last  we  see  him,  "  A  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief."  He  suffered,  being  tempted  "in  all  points  like  as  we 
are,  yet  without  sin." 

He  suffered  in  his  body,  and  in  his  soul ;  from  men,  from  de- 
vils ;  and  from  the  stern  justice  of  Heaven  :  and  all  for  the  love 
he  bore  to  perishing  sinners.  If  his  sufferings  pass  knowledge, 
so  also  his  love,  and  the  one  as  much  as  the  other  :  and  it  were 
a  fit  study  for  us  to-day,  to  make  one  of  these  the  gauge  of  the 
other.  Though  both  are  mysteriously  intense  and  deep,  the  one 
is  visible,  the  jother  inward  and  spiritual ;  from  that  which  is 
seen,  we  may  estimate  what  is  unseen.  The  tears  he  shed  over 
Jerusalem,  the  deep  sigh  that  he  heaved  at  the  grave  of  Laza- 
rus, the  "  strong  crying  and  tears"  with  which  he  prayed  in  the 
garden  of  G-ethsemane  ;  the  bloody  sweat  that  appeared  as  he 
lay  prostrate  on  the  ground,  being  in  "an  agony,"  and  "his  soul 
exceeding  sorrowful  even  unto  death, ' '  the  thorns  that  pierced  his 
sacred  brow,  and  the  barbed  arrow  that  entered  his  soul  when 
Peter  denied  him ;  and  all  those  clustering  woes  and  heavy  loads 
which,  by  the  agency  of  man  and  the  permission  of  God,  op- 
pressed him  on  the  cross,  till  sinking  beneath  their  overwhelm- 
ing pressure,  he  bowed  his  head  and  gave  up  the  ghost, — these, 
and  such  as  these,  are  the  visible  exponents  of  a  sorrow,  and  so 
the  visible  demonstrations  of  a  love,  which  no  articulate 
speech  can  utter,  or  finite  understanding  grasp. 
How  wondrous  was  the  burning  zeal, 
Which  filled  the  Master's  breast. 


168  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Set, 

When  all  his  sufferings  full  in  vTew, 

To  Salem's  towers  he  pressed  ? 
Dear  Lord,  no  tongue  can  duly  tell. 

Thy  love's  prevailing  might, 
No  thought  can  comprehend  its  length, 

And  breadth,  and  depth,  and  height. 

"Greater  love  liatli  no  man  tlian  this,  that  a  man  lay  down 
his  life  for  his  friends.  But  God  commendeth  his  love  towards  us, 
in  that  while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us. ' ' 

' '  Passing  knowledge' '  in  its  sacrilBces,  the  love  of  Christ  is 
alike  incomprehensible  in  its  benefits.  That  which  results 
to  us  from  the  love  and  sorrow  of  Jesus,  is  in  general  salvation  ! 
We  know  it,  and  yet  we  know  it  not.  In  one  sense  we  have  it, 
in  another,  we  have  it  not ;  but  we  wait  till  Christ  shall  come  the 
second  time  without  sin  unto  salvation.  In  ]:^th  respects  it 
"  passeth  knowledge,"  but  in  the  one  more  than  the  other. 
What  the  love  of  Christ  gives  us  now,  is  pardon  and  peace,  and 
hope,  and  "joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory."  We  pain- 
fully feel  that  the  redemption  of  our  souls  is  but  in  its  incipient 
stages ;  temptation  without,  and  corruption  within,  is  a  serious 
and  constant  drawback  to  our  happiness ;  yet  would  we  not  ex- 
change for  thrones  and  sceptres,  what  Christ  gives  us  even  now, 
in  the  grace  that  helps  us,  and  the  love  that  comforts  us,  and  the 
sweet  communion  that  unites  our  sympathetic  souls  together, 
and  the  honour  he  puts  upon  us  as  co-workers  with  himself  in 
achieving  the  redemption  of  men.  The  experiences  of  grace  be- 
low, are  worth  more  than  all  worlds  to  us,  and  are  so  accounted 
by  the  true  believer.  He  has  feelings  at  times  which  he  cannot 
express — which  he,  perhaps,  does  not  try  to  express,  unless  to 
God.  Tears  of  penitence,  gratitude,  adoration,  betray  them. 
They  are  mixed,  it  may  be,  with  "  groanings  which  cannot  be 


X.]  THE  LOVE  OF  CHRIST.  169 

uttered,"  but  taken  in  their  complexity  of  light  and  shade,  of 
joy  and  sadness,  they  are  a  sacred  treasure  which  the  Christian 
lays  away  in  the  innermost  shrine  of  his  soul.  He  would  rather 
die  than  surrender  it. 

If  this  be  true,  and  no  exaggeration,  what  shall  we  say  or 
think  of  the  benefits  which  Christ's  love  reserves  for  us  in  a  fu- 
ture life  and  a  better  world?  If  the  "joy  of  salvation"  is  un- 
speakable, what  will  be  the  joy  of  heavenly  and  eternal  glory  ? 
Though  it  "doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,"  we  know 
something  of  that  wondrous  destiny,  and  have  the  data  for  a 
sort  of  spiritual  arithmetic  by  which  the  relation  and  the  ratio  of 
grace  to  glory  and  earth  to  heaven  may  be  determined.  It  is 
but  an  approximation,  yet  it  is  substantially  true. 

Grace  is  an  earnest  of  glory ;  a  little  of  it  in  advance,  to  teach 
us  its  nature,  and  assure  us  of  its  future  possession.  The  differ- 
ence is  that  between  a  taste  which  provokes  the  appetite  and  a 
full  meal  which  satisfies  hunger.  Grace  is  the  ' '  first-fruits  of 
the  harvest, ' '  and  no  more  in  comparison  with  eternal  glory,  than 
a  handful  of  stalks  to  an  ample  barn  filled  in  every  part  with 
sheaves. 

Under  another  figure,  grace  is  the  childhood  of  the  believer, 
when  he  thinks  as  a  child  and  speaks  as  a  child :  the  state  of 
glory  is  his  perfect  manhood  when,  ceasing  ' '  to  know  in  part, 
he  shall  know  even  as  also  he  is  known." 

The  Christian's  earthly  state  is  the  night  of  his  ignorance ; 
heaven  "is  the  perfect  day"  of  bright  illumination,  which  will 
scatter  all  clouds  from  his  sky,  and  all  darkness  from  his  heart, 
and  make  him  acquainted  with  the  interior  nature  of  mysteries 
of  which  on  earth  he  did  not  know  the  existence.  In  every  ele- 
ment of  our  personal  character  and  relations  that  state  will  be 

"far  better,"  than  the  present,  and  the  "love  of  Christ"  will 
15 


170  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

discover  itself  in  new  and  glorious  forms  throughout  eternal 
ages.  The  prophets  who,  with  but  half-knowledge  of  their  pre- 
dictions, foretold  "the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  the  glory  that 
should  follow;"  the  apostles  who,  with  the  Holy  Grhost  sent  down 
from  heaven,  proclaimed  the  redemption  which  is  through  his 
blood ;  and  the  angels,  who  with  holy  eagerness  desire  to  look  into 
the  mysteries  of  Jesus'  grace  to  guilty  man,  are  pursuing  still 
the  sublime  study  in  the  realms  of  light,  and  the  declaration  of 
the  text  is  as  true  to  them  as  it  is  to  us — the  "love  of  Christ 
which  passeth  knowledge. "  If  we  know  this  love  in  the  remis- 
sion of  our  sins  and  the  purification  of  our  hearts,  we  shall  pre- 
sently join  that  "innumerable  company"  of  glorified  students, 
and  as  fresh  revelations  break  on  our  enraptured  gaze,  the  "  new 
song" — forever  new — will  burst  from  our  lips,  and  "Worthy 
the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  to  receive  power  and  riches,  and  wisdom 
and  strength,  and  honour  and  glory  and  blessing,"  will  resound 
through  all  the  plains  of  paradise. 

The  experience  of  earth,  in  its  great  essential  feature,  will  be 
transferred  to  heaven — the  love  of  Christ,  known  by  a  blessed 
experience,  and  yet  in  its  divine  and  infinite  fulness,  "  passing 
the  knowledge"  of  human  souls  and  finite  natures.  If  it  could 
be  comprehended,  its  transcendent  charm  would  vanish,  and 
heaven  would  lose  one  of  its  most  peculiar  joys. 

On  a  theme  so  high  and  holy,  our  words  and  thoughts  and 
comparisons  are  poor  and  beggarly ;  yet  must  we  thus  speak, 
or  not  speak  at  all.  As  we  could,  we  have  set  before  you  that 
love  whose  chief  expression  we  this  day  commemorate  in  the 
Holy  Supper. 

It  is  mysterious  and  infinite  as  the  Godhead  of  Him  in  whom 
it  dwells.  It  "passeth  knowledge"  in  its  eternity,  its  sove- 
reignty, its  freeness,  its  sacrifices,  and  its  benefits.     And  now  I 


X.]  THE  LOVE  OP  CHRIST.  171 

lay  it  on  your  heart  as  the  balm  of  its  wounds,  and  the  very 
power  of  Grod  for  your  inward  and  eternal  redemption. 

His  blood  paid  the  price  of  your  release  from  the  curse  of  the 
law  ;  his  love  loosens  the  ' '  bond  of  iniquity, ' '  and  attracts  the 
ransomed  soul  to  a  willing  and  loyal  service.  If  his  love  to  you 
' '  passes  knowledge, ' '  yours  to  him  should  exceed  all  other  loves 
that  sway  your  heart.  For  his  infinite  love,  give  him  your  sin- 
cere and  supreme  affection — all  that  the  weak  vessel  of  a  finite 
and  sinful  heart  can  contain.  By  the  response  you  make  to  this 
appeal,  your  spiritual  character  and  condition  will  be  tested. 
With  the  blood-stained  pledge  of  love  in  his  hands,  he  comes  to 
you  this  day,  as  to  Peter  by  the  sea  of  Galilee,  mildly  but  so- 
lemnly asking  the  question — "  Lovest  thou  me?"  It  is  as  much 
as  to  say — "  I  love  you — I  have  loved  you  with  an  everlasting 
love — I  have  died  for  you — I  am  living  to  make  intercession  for 
you — I  am  ready  to  crown  you  with  glory  and  honour,  and  give 
you  eternal  life, — Lovest  thou  me?" 

The  secret  answers  which  are  made  to  this  question  he  hears. 
One  in  the  profound  consciousness  of  a  true  heart,  may  be,  says, 
with  Peter — "Lord,  thou  knowest  all  things :  thou knowest  that 
I  love  thee." 

Others — a  goodly  company — can  say,  perhaps,  with  Paul — 
"The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us,  because  we  thus  judge, 
that  if  one  died  for  all,  then  were  all  dead :  and  that  he  died  for 
all,  that  they  which  live  should  not  henceforth  live  unto  them- 
selves, but  unto  him  which  died  for  them,  and  rose  again." 

A  self-distrusting  heart,  melting  into  tenderness,  exclaims — 

"  Lord,  it  is  my  chief  complaint, 
That  my  love  is  Avcak  and  faint : 
Yet  I  love  thee  and  adore, 
Oh !  for  grace  to  love  thee  more." 


172  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

Another,  drawn  hither  and  thither  bj^  the  opposing  forces  of 
grace  and  sin,  and  bewildered  by  contradictory  proofs,  will  sigh, 
with  Newton — 

"  Let  me  love  thee  more  and  more, 
If  I  love  at  all,  I  pray  j 
If  I  have  not  loved  before, 
Help  me  to  begin  to-day." 

Below  this,  love  is  non-existent,  and  many,  by  their  silence, 
confess  that,  unto  them,  Christ  is  "  a  root  out  of  a  dry  ground, 
having  no  form  nor  comeliness. ' '  To  these  let  me  say,  in  his 
name,  Christ  this  day,  now  and  here,  makes  you  the  tender  of 
his  love  and  salvation.  "I  love  them  that  love  me,  and  those 
that  seek  me  early  shall  find  me.  If  a  man  love  me,  he  will 
keep  my  words :  and  my  Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come 
unto  him,  and  make  our  abode  with  him." 


XI.]  THE  DISPENSATION  OF  THE  SPIRIT.  173 


SERMON  XI. 

THE  DISPENSATION  OF  THE  SPIRIT. 

John  vii.  39. — But  tliis  spaJce  he  of  the  S-pirit,  lohich  they  that 
believe  on  Mm  should  receive :  for  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet 
given,  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified. 

In  its  most  general  aspect,  this  passage  suggests  the  idea  that 
God,  in  saving  men,  works  according  to  a  plan.  There  is  order, 
sequence,  dependence  in  his  working.  He  does  one  thing,  ra- 
ther than  another ;  and  at  a  certain  time,  rather  than  before  or 
after.  In  his  own  infinite  and  eternal  mind,  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  the  succession  of  ideas,  or  the  discovery  of  truth  by 
logical  processes ;  but  when  the  thoughts  of  God  come  forth  in 
revelation  and  accomplishment,  in  the  experience  of  man  and 
the  salvation  of  the  church,  there  is  observed  a  logical  relation 
of  the  parts,  and  a  successive  development,  in  time,  of  the  Divine 
Mind,  which  show  that  the  whole  work  of  redemption  proceeds 
according  to  a  perfect  and  eternal  plan.  "The  History  of  Re- 
demption," as  President  Edwards  names  the  actual  unfolding 
of  this  plan,  in  the  calling,  gathering,  and  sanctification  of  the 
church,  is  as  much  more  orderly,  and — so  to  speak — more  pro- 
foundly philosophical,  than  any  other  history,  as  the  church  is 
the  object  of  God's  more  special  care  and  immediate  control — ^in 

fact,  the  workmanship  of  his  own  hands. 
15* 


174  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

That  sucli  a  plan  exists,  binding  all  Divine  acts  and  human 
events  connected  with  the  salvation  of  men  in  one  great  economy, 
and  requiring  them  to  occur  in  a  certain  consecutive  order,  is 
indicated  in  the  clearest  manner  by  the  two  Testaments,  the  Old 
and  the  New,  which  reveal  the  will  of  God,  and  record  the  gra- 
dual accomplishment  of  his  purpose.  The  Old  naturally  and 
necessarily  precedes  the  New  :  the  New  is  required  to  fulfil  and 
develop  the  Old.  The  one  is  the  primary  school-book,  which  the 
church  studied  in  its  chiltihood,  under  tutors  and  governors. 
It  contained  "the  rudiments"  of  Divine  knowledge,  milk  for 
babes :  the  New  unfolds  the  higher  mysteries  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  and  carries  its  disciples  "  on  to  perfection." 

This  settled  plan  appears  also  in  the  different,  successive,  and 
improving  dispensations  under  which  the  covenant  of  grace  has 
been  administered.  The  patriarchal,  with  its  scanty  revelations, 
and  simple  worship,  and  pilgrim  life,  was,  at  the  Exodus,  and 
in  Canaan,  merged  in  the  Jewish,  which  was  characterized  by  a 
complete,  and  even  cumbrous  system  of  rites  and  laws,  ' '  im- 
posed until  the  time  of  reformation, "  when  Christ  came,  fulfilling 
the  law,  bringing  in  a  "  better  covenant, ' '  and  setting  up  the 
Christian  dispensation,  under  which  the  kingdom  of  God  is  to 
exist,  and  grow,  and  be  purified,  until  the  church  militant  shall 
,be  swallowed  up  in  the  church  triumphant,  and  all  means  of 
grace  and  ordinances  of  worship  shall  be  displaced  and  made 
unnecessary  by  the  presence  of  Jesus,  and  the  fulness  of  an 
'*  eternal  redemption." 

Another  remarkable  indication  of  the  Divine  plan,  of  which 
the  history  of  the  church  is  the  visible  evolution,  is  the  manner 
in  which  the  Persons  of  the  Godhead  come  forward  on  the  scene 
of  revelation  and  of  action.  Under  the  Old  Testament,  the  mys- 
tery of  the  holy  Trinity  was  but  obscurely  revealed,  while  the 


XI.]  THE  DISPENSATION  OP  THE  SPIRIT.  175 

unity  of  the  Grodhead  is  set  forth  in  great  prominence  :  and  as, 
in  the  economy  of  redemption,  the  Father  represents  and  acts 
for  the  Godhead,  we  may  regard  the  Old  Testament  as  in  f<ome 
sense  the  dispensation  of  the  Father.  It  was  long,  obscure, 
preparatory.  At  its  close,  the  Son  became  incarnate,  and  the 
period  of  his  earthly  sojourn  was  the  dispensation  of  the  second 
Person  of  the  adorable  Godhead.  It  was  very  short,  but  the 
greatest  events  of  the  world's  history  were  crowded  into  it.  The 
atoning  death  of  Jeous  Christ  was  the  culminating  point  of 
all  previous  history,  and  the  point  of  departure  for  all  that  is  j'^et 
to  come.  In  the  thirty-three  years  of  his  humiliation,  Jesus  did 
more  for  the  world's  salvation  than  had  been  achieved  in  the 
four  thousand  that  preceded — much  as  that  was,  and  of  indis- 
pensable necessity.  What  the  period  lacked  in  mere  chrono- 
logical duration,  is  more  than  compensated  by  the  magnitude  of 
its  events,  and  the  rapidity  with  which  the  scheme  of  grace  ad- 
vanced towards  its  consummation.  Having  done  all  that  was 
assigned  him, — all  that  in  his  humiliation  it  was  possible  for 
him  to  do,  the  Son  returned  to  his  glory,  and  the  Spirit  is  re- 
vealed in  the  Divine  personality  of  his  nature  and  the  abundant 
grace  of  his  mission.  How  long  his  ' '  ministration' '  will  con- 
tinue is  unknown  to  men.  All  that  is  revealed  is,  that  it  will 
continue  till  the  mystery  of  God  is  finished,  and  the  purchased 
redemption  applied  to  all  the  saved.  In  exhibiting  the  work 
of  the  Spirit  in  its  connexion  with  that  of  the  Son,  and  the  Fa- 
ther, and  as  having  an  appointed  place  in  the  order  of  events 
and  of  time,  in  the  progress  of  human  salvation,  the  text  gives 
us  a  theme  of  meditation  both  interesting  and  practical,  and  in 
every  respect  of  the  highest  importance. 

The  form  of  truth  it  presents,  is  the  previous  withholding  and 
the  present  bestowment  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     "But  this  spake 


176  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

he  of  the  Spirit,  which  they  that  beheve  on  him  should  receive ; 
for  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet  given ;  because  that  Jesus  was 
not  yet  glorified. ' ' 

1.  The  statement  that  "  Tlie  Holy  Grhost  was  not  yet  given," 
covers  the  whole  period  of  the  Old  Testament  dispensation,  and 
the  earthly  ministry  of  Jesus  Christ,  even  up  to  the  very  hour 
of  his  ascension.  In  determining  the  sense  of  this  statement,  it 
is  obvious,  on  the  slightest  inspection  of  Scripture,  that  it  does 
not  and  cannot  mean  a  total  and  absolute  withholding  of  the 
Spirit,  It  does  not  mean  either  that  the  Spirit  was  not  revealed 
or  that  he  did  not  operate  on  the  minds  of  men  before  Christ 
entered  into  his  glory.  He  was  revealed,  and  he  did  work  as  a 
spirit  of  inspiration  in  the  prophets,  who  "spake  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  as  a  spirit  of  holiness  in  the 
hearts  of  believers.  He  went  further  :  he  strove  as  a  Spirit  of 
conviction  with  the  antediluvian  sinners  of  Noah's  time,  and 
with  unbelievers  in  Israel,  who  "rebelled"  against  Jehovah,  and 
"  vexed  his  Holy  Spirit. " 

In  both  miraculous  operations  and  saving  influences,  the  Spirit 
did  things  of  the  same  kind  that  he  did  after  the  ascension  of 
Christ,  and  that  he  does  now. 

The  difference  is  one  of  degree :  and  when  it  is  said  he  "  was 
not  then  given,"  the  meaning  must  be  that  he  was  not  bestowed 
in  the  same  manner  and  amount  as  now.  If  he  had  not  been 
given  at  all — the  world  would  have  lain  in  absolute  darkness  and 
death.  Not  one  soul  would  have  been  converted  and  sanctified. 
The  existence  of  such  men  as  Abel  and  Enoch  before  the  flood ; 
of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the  age  of  the  patriarchs ;  of 
Moses,  Joshua,  and  David,  Samuel  and  Isaiah,  and  others  *f 
whom  time  would  fail  to  tell,  in  the  periods  of  the  Judges  under 
the  theocracy,  proves  that  the  Spirit  of  God  wrought  in  the 


XI.]  THE  DISPENSATION   OF  THE  SPIRIT.  177 

souls  of  men  with  mighty  power.  As  there  is  a  sense  in  which 
Christ  was  in  the  world  before  his  incarnation,  appearing  in  the  form 
of  a  man,  in  those  momentary  theophanies  which  patriarchs  and 
prophets  beheld ;  so  there  is  a  sense  in  which  the  Spirit  was  in 
the  world  before  he  was  "given"  by  the  ascended  and  glorified 
Saviour. 

But  this  was  in  a  measure  so  small  that,  generally  and  popularly 
speaking,  it  might  be  said,  the  Spirit  was  not  yet  given.  With 
this  announcement  of  fact,  the  Evangelist  with  equal  ex- 
plicitness  assigns  the  reason  for  it.  ' '  The  Holy  Grhost  was  not 
yet  given,  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified. ' '  The  previous 
withholding  of  the  Spirit  was  not  an  arbitrary  restraint  imposed 
on  the  love  and  grace  of  this  Divine  person  and  mighty  agent, 
but  had  a  ground  in  the  great  economy  of  salvation  which  the 
wisdom  of  Grod  devised.  A  certain  lapse  of  time,  and  progress 
of  events,  and  performance  of  Divine  acts,  must  take  place  be- 
fore the  Spirit  can  properly,  and  with  the  best  efi'ect,  be  given  in 
this  particular  manner  and  in  such  copious  efiusion.  And  in 
particular,  it  must  needs  be  that  Jesus  first  suflfer  and  enter  into 
his  glory.  On  this  hinged  the  descent  of  the  Spirit.  On  the 
strength  of  the  Saviour's  promised  coming,  the  Spirit  had  been 
given  in  a  small  degree ;  sin  had  been  pardoned,  and  the  glad 
news  of  salvation  published  within  a  limited  circle ;  but  it  re- 
quired the  accomplished  facts  of  his  incarnation,  life,  death,  re- 
surrection, and  ascension  to  glory,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
Spirit's  mission,  and  to  supply  the  materials  requisite  to  its  ra- 
pid and  complete  performance:  and  with  such  light  as  the 
Scriptures  afibrd,  we  may  find  it  a  profitable  study  to  trace  the 
connexion  between  the  glorification  of  the  Son  and  the  gift  of 
the  Spirit. 

On  earth,  the  glory  of  Christ  was  veiled  by  the  likeness  of 


178  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

human  flesh  and  the  form  of  a  servant  which  he  assumed,  and 
especially  by  the  shame  of  his  death  on  the  cross.  When  he 
burst  the  bars  of  the  grave,  the  cloud  began  to  pass  off;  and 
during  the  forty  days  which  intervened  before  he  ascended,  the 
radiant  Divinity  which  his  sacred  body  enshrined  shone  forth 
with  brightening  lustre,  until  from  Olivet  he  disappeared  from 
mortal  eyes,  and  entered  into  the  glory  he  had  with  the  Father 
before  the  world  was.  Much  as  this  is,  it  is  not  the  whole  of 
what  is  implied  in  the  glorifying  of  Jesus  Christ.  Besides  re- 
suming the  throne,  the  sceptre,  and  the  glory  which  he  had 
relinquished,  when  "for  our  sakes  he  became  poor,"  he  was 
"crowned  with  glory  and  honour"  as  the  mediatorial  king  of 
the  world  and  head  of  the  church.  Because  "he  made  himself 
of  no  reputation,  and  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and 
became  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross,  Grod 
hath  highly  exalted  him,  and  given  him  a  name  which  is  above 
every  name,  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow, 
and  every  tongue  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord."  Such  is 
his  glory,  and  first  of  all  we  connect  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  with 
his  regal  office  and  universal  dominion.  The  Spirit  is  a  donation 
worthy  of  heaven's  king.  When  he  ascended  up  on  high,  he 
"  received  gifts  for  men,"  chief  and  first  of  all  of  which  is  the 
bestowment  of  the  Comforter.  Standing  amid  the  scenes  of 
that  wondrous  "  day  of  Pentecost,"  Peter  referred  them  to  the 
glorified  Saviour,  whom  the  cavilling  Jews  around  him  had  cru- 
cified and  slain:  "by  the  right  hand  of  Grod  exalted,  and  hav- 
ing received  of  the  Father  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he 
hath  shed  forth  this,  which  ye  now  see  and  hear. ' '  This  passage, 
while  it  connects  the  bestowment  of  the  Spirit  with  the  princely 
exaltation  of  Christ,  suggests  the  further  idea  of  its  dependence 
on  a  covenant-engagement  between  the  Father  and  the  Son. 


XI.]  THE  DISPENSATION  OF  THE  SPIRIT.  179 

The  Spirit  was  promised  to  Jesus,  in  trust,  as  it  were,  for  the 
church  and  the  world,  on  condition  that  he  would  die  for  men, 
and,  by  his  atonement,  remove  all  moral  and  legal  obstructions 
out  of  the  way  of  their  being  renewed  and  sanctified.  His  resur- 
rection from  the  dead  and  entrance  into  glory  was  the  proof  that 
he  had  fulfilled  the  condition  of  the  promise,  and  now  not  only 
the  mercy,  but  the  righteousness  and  truth  of  God  concurred  in 
sending  forth  the  Spirit. 

Underlying  these  facts,  and  even  more  deeply  imbedded  in 
the  economy  of  grace,  there  is  another  reason  why  the  mission 
of  the  Spirit  should  be  deferred  till  after  the  sacrifice  and  ascen- 
sion of  the  Son,  and  when  these  had  taken  place,  should  be  no 
longer  delayed.  The  purchase  of  redemption  was  the  act  of  the 
Son ;  its  application  is  the  work  of  the  Spirit.  Naturally,  the 
purchase  precedes  the  application,  and  there  appears  no  reason, 
when  the  one  had  been  made,  why  the  other  should  not  imme- 
diately proceed.  The  sovereign  balm  of  atoning  blood  was  pre- 
pared, and  the  world  is  perishing  in  its  sin ;  why  should  the 
Spirit  longer  tarry? 

The  lever  which  is  to  raise  mankind  from  the  horrible  pit  and 
the  miry  clay  of  their  spiritual  ruin,  is  furnished  in  the  cross, 
and  in  the  facts  and  doctrines  of  the  gospel  which  reveal  it,  and 
there  is  no  longer  any  fitness  of  things,  nor  economic  necessity, 
nor  reason  of  any  sort,  why  this  Divine  and  mighty  instrument 
of  regeneration  and  life  should  not  be  applied  to  elevate,  redeem, 
and  save  the  lost.  Jesus  is  glorified  in  heaven ;  now  let  him  be 
glorified  on  earth  by  the  revelation  of  his  grace,  and  the  applica- 
tion of  his  blood  to  those  who  sit  in  darkness  and  lie  in  the  em- 
braces of  spiritual  death.  As  before  he  was  glorified  the  Spirit 
was  not  given,  now  that  he  is  crowned  with  light  and  invested 
with  universal  and  supreme  dominion,  enlisting  his  providence 


180  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

in  aid  of  his  grace,  let  the  Spirit  of  love  and  power  come  down 
in  the  plenitude  of  his  gifts  and  influences,  and  abide  with  the 
chui-ch,  and  breathe  his  quickening  breath  upon  the  world ! 

II.  Having  thus  found  a  vital  connexion  existing  between  the 
mediatorial  glory  with  which  the  risen  Saviour  is  crowned,  and 
the  ministration  of  the  Spirit  which  follows  it — a  connexion  so 
close  and  necessary,  that  before  one  of  these  events  had  taken 
place  the  other  could  not  occur,  and  could  not  be  longer  delayed 
after  its  appointed  antecedent  had  become  a  fact  of  history — we 
have  remaining  the  most  directly  practical  portion  of  our  sub- 
ject, in  tracing  the  characteristics  of  this  last  dispensation  of 
the  covenant  of  grace,  which  has  for  its  grand  peculiarity  and 
crowning  glory  the  mission  of -the  Holy  Grhost. 

It  is  fully  implied  in  all  that  has  gone  before  in  this  discourse, 
that  the  church  is  thereby  placed  in  an  advanced  position.  If 
any  one  thinks  that  the  visible  glory  of  the  pillar  of  cloud  and 
fire,  the  celestial  voices,  the  angels'  visits,  the  inspired  prophets, 
and  miraculous  deliverances  which  were  the  salient  points  and 
distinguishing  features  of  the  Old  Covenant,  were  better  than 
this  calm,  quiet,  spiritual  kingdom,  of  which  you  cannot  say 
"  Lo,  here,  or  lo,  there,"  this  is  but  to  confess  that  in  our  indi- 
vidual progress  we  have  not  kept  pace  with  that  of  the  Divine 
plan ;  and  it  is  to  run  against  the  express  decision  of  an  inspired 
apostle,  who  describes  the  former  as  "the  ministration  of  death," 
and  asks,  in  the  face  of  all  its  outward  and  material  splendour — 
"How  shall  not  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit  be  rather  glori- 
ous?"—2  Cor.  iii.  8. 

If  you  fancy  that  the  golden  age  of  the  church  must  surely 
have  been  enjoyed  when  the  incarnate  God  dwelt  among  men, 
and  they  beheld  his  glory,  and  bowed  at  his  feet,  and  reposed 
on  liis  breast,  I  acknowledge  it  is  hard,  on  general  grounds,  to 


XI.  J  THE  DISPENSATION  OF  THE  SPIRIT.  181 

show  that  such  a  thought  is  mistaken,  and  would  not  venture, 
in  an  authoritative  manner,  to  pronounce  it  so,  if  he  himself  had 
not  declared  it  "expedient  that  he  should  go  awaj^,  that  the 
Comforter  might  come."  A  glorified  Redeemer,  revealed  by 
the  Spirit,  and  seen  by  faith,  is  more  to  the  soul  than  Jesus  was 
to  Mary  Magdalene,  when  in  that  well-known  voice  he  pronounced 
her  name,  and  she  fell  at  his  feet  to  worship  him ;  or  to  Thomas, 
when  gazing  upon  his  pierced  hands  and  wounded  side,  he  cried 
— "  My  Lord,  and  my  God." 

Gather  up  all  the  tender  and  holy  memories  which  these  Gos- 
pel Histories  record ;  group  all  the  scenes  of  which  Incarnate 
Love  was  the  luminous  centre,  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth,  the 
temple  and  the  garden,  the  upper-room  at  Jerusalem,  and  the 
house  of  Mary  and  Martha, — view  him  with  every  ray  of  light 
which  the  recorded  facts  of  his  life  and  the  colouring  of  a  sancti- 
fied imagination  cast  upon  him,  and  yet  I  must  assure  you  that 
this  view  of  Jesus  is  dim  and  distant,  compared  with  that  direct 
spiritual  vision  of  his  grace  and  glory  which  the  illumination  of 
the  Spirit  affords  to  the  believing  heart.  "Thomas,"  said  he, 
"because  thou  hast  seen  me,  thou  hast  behoved:  blessed  are 
they  that  have  not  seen,  and  j^et  have  believed." 

The  Spirit  "glorifies"  the  Son  by  revealing  him  to  faith; 
and  when  thus  apprehended,  the  vision  inspires  joy  unspeakable 
and  full  of  glory.  Our  first  lesson,  therefore,  is  to  appreciate 
the  wondrous  privilege  we  enjoy,  occupying  a  higher  position, 
and,  under  the  teaching  of  the  Spirit,  having  more  knowledge  of 
Christ  and  salvation  than  patriarchs,  prophets,  or  apostles,  uj) 
to  the  day  of  Pentecost.  And  on  this  subject  no  didactic  state- 
ment or  proof-text  of  Scripture  will  so  commend  the  truth  to 
our  convictions,  as  the  inspired  narrative  of  facts  which  occurred 

at  Jerusalem  on  the  fiftieth  day  after  the  Saviour's  resurrection, 
16 


182  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

and  the  tenth  from  his  ascension.  The  event  which  then  took 
place  was  the  subject  of  many  Old  Testament  predictions,  and 
of  the  Saviour's  recent  and  specific  promise.  "  This  is  that, " 
said  Peter,  "which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet  Joel:  And  it 
shall  come  to  pass  in  the  last  days,  saith  Grod,  I  will  pour  out  of 
my  Spirit  upon  all  flesh:  and  your  sons  and  your  daughters 
shall  prophesy,  and  your  young  men  shall  see  visions,  and  your 
old  men  shall  dream  dreams ;  and  on  my  servants  and  on  my 
handmaidens  I  will  pour  out  in  those  days  of  my  Spirit. ' '  And 
Jesus,  in  the  hour  of  his  ascension,  commanded  the  apostles  not 
to  depart  from  Jerusalem,  but  to  wait  for  the  promise  of  the 
Father,  "which,"  saith  he,  "ye  have  heard  of  me :  for  John 
truly  baptized  with  water,  but  ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the 
Holy  Grhost  not  many  days  hence." 

Excited  and  inspired  by  such  promises,  the  qhurch  waited  and 
prayed  through  the  intervening  days.  When  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost was  fully  come,  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit  was  inaugu- 
rated with  an  unprecedented  and  glorious  outpouring  of  miracu- 
lous gifts  and  converting  grace. 

Two  things  are  specially  observable.  One  is  the  instantane- 
ous and  wonderful  progress  which  the  apostles  themselves 
made  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  the  nature  of  his  kingdom 
and  salvation.  After  all  he  had  taught  them  on  this  subject, 
both  before  and  after  his  resurrection,  they  surprise  us,  in  the 
moment  of  his  ascension  with  the  question, — "Wilt  thou,  at  this 
time,  restore  again  the  kingdom  to  Israel?"  Showing  that  the 
veil  of  carnal  hopes  and  Jewish  prejudices  was  still  upon  their 
hearts.  He  gave  them  no  satisfaction,  but  told  them  to  "wait 
for  the  Spirit."  After  he  was  come,  they  did  not  need  to  in- 
quire. A  flood  of  spiritual  illumination  fell  upon  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, on  the  facts  of  the  Saviour's  life  and  death,  and  upon 


XL]  THE  DISPENSATION   OF  THE  SPIRIT.  183 

all  his  doctrines,  and  for  the  first  time,  they  comprehended  the 
glorious  truth  that  the  kingdom  and  salvation  of  Jesus  Christ 
were  spiritual :  and  they  never  needed  to  learn  that  lesson  over 
again.  The  ' '  anointing' '  they  received,  was  once  for  all ;  it 
remained  with  them,  leading  them  into  all  truth,  and  bringing 
all  things  to  their  remembrance.  Dear  and  precious  as  is  the 
name  of  ' '  Comforter, ' '  by  which  our  translators  render  the  ori- 
ginal title  of  Paraclete  {rrapdKXriros)^  which  Jesus  applies  to  the 
Spuit,  it  seems  to  narrow  the  sense  of  the  term.  Comfort,  "joy 
in  the  Holy  Ghost,"  which,  of  course,  we  greatly  desire  and 
highly  appreciate  are  much,  but  there  are  other  effects  of  his 
presence  and  power,  which  are  not  less  important  to  the  growth 
of  the  renewed  man,  the  upbuilding  of  the  church,  and  the  con- 
version of  the  world.  Prominent  among  these,  and  comprehen- 
sive of  most,  is  the  teaching  office  of  the  Spirit.  He  is  both  the 
inspirer  and  the  interpreter  of  Scripture.  Having  taught  pro- 
phets and  apostles  to  write  it,  he  now  teaches  the  church  to  un- 
derstand it.  In  this  double  sense,  he  is  "  the  Spirit  of  truth." 
The  "  Comforter,  which  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  the  Father  will 
send  in  my  name,  he  shall  teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  all 
things  to  your  remembrance,  whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you." 
His  illumination  relates  primarily  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  sun  of 
the  spiritual  world ;  and  since  all  Scripture,  with  more  or  less 
directness,  points  to  him,  the  Spirit  opens  our  eyes  to  discern 
its  doctrine,  touching  all  divine  and  heavenly  things.  When  he 
is  come,  "  He  shall  testify  of  me,"  said  Jesus.  "He  shall  take 
of  mine,  and  shall  show  it  unto  you,"  and  by  this  testimony  and 
manifestation,  "he  shall  glorify  me."  While  Christ  is  thus  re- 
vealed and  glorified  in  the  church,  and  in  the  view  of  the  believ- 
ing heart,  there  is  required  a  revelation  of  the  sinner  to  him- 
self, that  his  need  of  this  glorious  Redeemer  may  .be  felt,  and 


184  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

his  salvation  embraced :  and  accordingly  the  ' '  mission  of  the 
Comforter,"  is  to  "  the  world,  convincing  of  sin,  of  righteous- 
ness, and  of  judgment."  Without  the  Spirit,  the  sinner  is 
blind,  not  only  to  the  grace  and  glory  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  to  the 
fact  of  his  own  guilt  and  ruin  :  and  would  perish  in  eternal  dark- 
ness, if  this  holy  and  blessed  agent  should  withdraw  his  influ- 
ence. We  may,  therefore,  say,  in  brief,  that  the  sanctification 
of  the  believer,  the  preservation  of  the  church,  and  the  salva- 
tion of  the  world,  depend  immediately  on  the  power  of  that 
Divine  Spirit  whom  the  glorified  Saviour  sheds  forth  on  men. 

While,  in  our  thoughts  and  doxologies,  we  adore  the  Father, 
and  love  the  Son,  we  should  with  equal  fervour  of  gratitude  and 
affection,  worship  and  bless  the  Spirit ! 

Our  relations  to  him,  under  this  last  economy  which  is  the 
prelude  to  heaven,  are  most  peculiar.  The  "Father  Al- 
mighty," is  the  "  Invisible  God,"  "whom  no  man  hath  seen,  or 
can  see."  The  Son,  after  a  transient  manifestation  on  earth, 
has  returned  to  heaven,  and  is  hid  from  view.  The  Spirit  is 
given  in  his  room;  he  is  already  given,  and  broods  like  an 
all-embracing  atmosphere  over  the  world.  He  "abideth  for 
ever,"  and  is  not  like  a  wayfaring  man  that  tarrieth  for  a 
night.  The  relation  we  are  placed  in  to  the  Spirit  may  be 
expressed  by  the  attitude  and  act  of  the  risen  Saviour,  when 
suddenly  appearing  in  the  midst  of  the  apostles,  he  "  breathed 
on  them  and  said.  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost." 

Say  not  in  your  heart,  who  shall  ascend  into  heaven,  to  bring 
the  Spirit  down  ?  He  has  already  descended,  and  is  pressing  on 
every  avenue  that  leads  to  the  inner  sanctuary  of  the  soul,  to 
enshrine  himself  there,  the  Spirit  of  light,  and  power,  and  holi- 
ness, and  joy :  and  the  command  of  the  glorified  Redeemer  to 
each  of  us  this  day  is — "Be  filled  with  the  Spirit." 


XL]  THE  DISPENSATION  OF  THE  SPIRIT.  185 

The  freeness  with  which  the  Spirit  is  given,  and  the  abundant 
measure  in  which  his  influences  may  be  enjoyed,  are  points  of 
instruction  very  clearly  implied  in  the  text,  and  of  the  deepest 
interest  to  us  all. 

He  is  spoken  of  as  a  gift,  and  in  the  immediate  context  is 
compared  to  water,  which,  of  all  natural  elements  and  temporal 
blessings,  is  one  of  the  freest  and  most  abundant.  From  "him 
that  believeth  on  me,  as  the  Scripture  hath  said,  shall  flow  rivers 
of  living  water :  but  this  spoke  he  of  the  Spirit  of  which  they 
that  believe  on  him  should  receive. ' '  Water  is  had  for  the  asking, 
and  our  Father  in  heaven  is  infinitely  willing  to  ' '  give  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him."  The  dew  that  distils  in  silence 
while  men  sleep,  and  the  rain  that  falls  in  copious  showers,  irri- 
gating the  fields,  swelling  the  streams,  and  purifying  the  air,  are 
natural  symbols  of  the  absolute  freeness,  the  overflowing  ful- 
ness, and  the  beneficent  efi"ects  of  the  Spirit's  influences.  Pre- 
dicting these  "last  days"  of  the  Spirit's  ministration,  Jehovah 
declared  by  the  mouth  of  Isaiah — "I  will  pour  water  on  him 
that  is  thirsty,  and  floods  upon  the  dry  ground.  I  will  pour  my 
Spirit  on  thy  seed,  and  my  blessing  on  thine  ofi'spring.  And 
they  shall  spring  up  as  among  the  grass,  and  as  willows  by  the 
water  courses. ' ' 

Freely  given,  acceptable  to  all,  and  fully  adequate  to  every 
want  of  the  individual,  and  the  world,  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  his 
Divine  personality,  his  official  character,  and  his  special  relation 
to  men  in  this  last  earthly  form  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  demands 
the  peculiar  and  devout  consideration  of  the  church :  and  I  pre- 
sent to  you,  my  brethren,  the  doctrine  of  the  Spirit,  in  hope, 
that  we  may  attain  to  a  better  appreciation  of  our  privilege,  and 
that  by  coming  into  line  in  thought  and  action,  with  the  plan  of 

God,  we  may  enjoy  and  improve  the  gift  which  is  brought  so  near. 
16* 


186  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

A  practical  reflection,  which  naturally  arises,  is,  that  if  Chris- 
tians and  the  church  do  not  possess  the  Spirit  in  the  plenitude 
of  his  sanctifying  and  comforting  influences,  it  is  because  they 
place  obstructions  in  the  way  of  his  entrance  to  their  hearts. 

This  is  a  necessary  inference  from  the  doctrine  which  we  have 
enlarged  upon  and  proved  from  Scripture,  that  the  Spirit  is  al- 
ready given  by  the  glorified  Saviour,  and  is  an  abiding  presence 
in  the  world.  If  the  Spirit  is  not  in  our  heart,  it  is  not  because 
God  withholds  him,  but  because  we  are  not  in  sympathy  with 
him.  If  there  is  no  Hght  in  our  dwellings  when  the  sun  is  shin- 
ing in  the  heavens,  it  is  because  the  windows  are  darkened  and 
the  doors  are  shut.  Remove  the  obstructions,  and  his  beams 
will  fill  every  chamber.  This  which  we  draw  as  an  inference 
from  the  Divine  plan  which  assigns  the  Spirit  to  this  last  dis- 
pensation, is  fully  implied  in  a  multitude  of  texts  which  exhibit 
our  duties  towards  the  Spirit.  These  nearly  all  imply  his  pre- 
sence, his  readiness,  his  urgency. 

The  exhortation  not  to  resist  him,  implies  that  the  hand  of  his 
gracious  power  is  already  laid  upon  us;  the  warning  not  to 
"  grieve  "  him,  imports  that  his  loving  embrace  already  enfolds 
us,  and  the  command — "  Quench  not  the  Spirit,"  were  mean- 
ingless, if  the  Divine  spark  were  not  already  fanned  by  his  holy 
breath.  The  precept  that  bids  us  "be  filled  with  the  Spirit," 
resembles  a  command  to  inhale  full  inspirations  of  vital  air. 
"Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost,"  is  the  Saviour's  salutation  to  his 
people.  If  we  have  not  the  Spirit,  in  sanctifying  and  convert- 
ing power,  it  must  be,  because  we  obstruct  his  entrance  to  our 
souls,  or  drive  him  out  by  sin.  Neglected  duties,  secret  sins,  un- 
holy passions,  and  conformity  to  the  world,  "quench  the 
Spirit,"  and  leave  us  in  darkness  and  death,  when  the  light  of 
the  Spirit  is  shining  all  around  us,  and  whilst  his  quickening 


XI.]  THE  DISPENSATION   OF  THE  SPIRIT.  187 

power  is  brooding  over  a  perishing  world,  as  it  brooded  upon 
"the  face  of  the  deep"  at  first.  It  is  our  sin  not  to  have  the 
Spirit.  There  is  not  the  shadow  of  an  excuse  for  it.  I  pray 
you,  think  of  this  longer  than  you  sit  in  these  seats.  When  you 
read  your  Bible,  or  kneel  in  your  closet,  or  pray  with  your  chil- 
dren, or  walk  the  street,  or  transact  your  business,  open  your 
heart  to  the  Spirit  of  God.  ' '  Walk  after  the  Spirit. "  "  Walk 
in  the  Spirit."     "To  be  spiritually- minded  is  life  and  peace." 

If  the  stinted  measure  in  which  Christians  and  the  church  pos- 
sess the  Spirit  is  to  be  referred  to  the  hinderances  which  they  in- 
terpose, the  continued  impenitence  of  sinners  has  the  same  expla- 
nation. It  is  not  because  Grod  has  denied,  but  because  you  have 
resisted  the  Spirit,  that  you  are  still  unconverted,  and  without 
part  or  lot  in  his  salvation.  The  Spirit  has  often  reproved  you 
of  sin  and  warned  you  of  danger.  At  times  he  has  urged  you 
strongly  in  the  direction  of  duty  and  the  cross.  You  trifled  with 
tlie  opportunity — ^you  knew  not  the  time  of  your  visitation — ^you 
turned  to  folly,  to  business,  to  sin,  and  are  now  approaching 
death  without  pardon  and  preparation  for  heaven.  I  beseech 
you,  sin  no  more  against  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  will  ' '  not  always 
strive."  If  you  suffer  him  not  to  seal  your  soul  to  the  day  of 
redemption,  you  must  be  sealed  unto  the  day  of  wrath. 


188  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 


SERMON   XII. 
THE  BLADE,  THE  EAR,  AND  THE  FULL  CORN. 

Mark  iv.  26-29. — And  he  said^  So  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  as 
if  a  man  should  cast  seed  into  the  ground,  and  should  sleep, 
and  me  ni^ht  and  day,  and  the  seed  should  spring  and  grow 
up,  he  knoweth  not  how.  For  the  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of 
herself,  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that,  the  full  corn  in 
the  ear.  But  when  the  fruit  is  brought  forth,  immediately  he 
putteth  in  the  sickle,  because  the  harvest  is  come. 

It  is  in  Scripture  as  in  nature.  When  we  look  out  on  the 
material  universe,  some  objects  are  so  great,  so  prominent,  so 
universally  present,  that  none  can  overlook  them.  The  earth, 
with  its  mountains  and  rivers,  the  sky,  with  its  sun,  moon,  and 
stars,  are  as  open  to  the  view,  and  as  familiar  to  the  thoughts 
of  children  as  of  men,  and,  if  not  so  well  understood,  yet  as 
clearly  seen  by  the  unlettered  peasant  as  by  the  erudite  philoso- 
pher. What  all  thus  see  in  nature,  is,  of  course,  most  important 
to  be  seen :  but  we  know  it  is  little  more  than  the  mere  surface 
of  things,  beneath  which  lie  concealed  ten  thousand  marvels  of 
creative  skill  and  power,  which  science  in  its  endless  progress 
brings  to  light.  Analogous  to  this,  there  are  in  the  Scriptures 
great  docti'ines  and  salient  facts  which  rise  like  mountains  on  the 


XII.]    THE  BLADE,  THE  EAR,  AND  THE  FULL  CORN.    189 

plain  of  revelation,  so  bold  and  obtrusive  that  the  most  inatten- 
tive reader  cannot  fail  to  observe,  and,  in  some  degree,  compre- 
hend them:  and  beauties  so  obvious  that  it  requires  almost 
nothing  beyond  our  natural  taste  and  sensibihty  to  discover  and 
enjoy.  Again,  there  are  truths  and  beauties  which  disclose 
themselves  only  to  the  observant,  the  studious,  the  devout, 
but  which,  when  discovered,  are  felt  to  be  as  real  as  those  that 
are  better  known,  and  come  to  us  with  the  added  charm  of  a 
fresh  acquisition. 

Of  the  truth  of  these  remarks,  we  have  thought  this  beautiful 
simile  of  the  Saviour,  which  only  Mark  records,  might  afford  an 
illustration.  What  it  has  in  common  with  other  parables  is 
familiar :  what  is  peculiar  to  itself,  and  is  its  chief  lesson,  may 
have  specially  arrested  the  attention  of  very  few :  and  it  is  pos- 
sible that  the  general  resemblance  of  its  imagery  to  that  in  the 
parable  of  the  sower,  which  in  this  gospel  precedes,  and  to  that 
of  the  "mustard-seed"  which  follows  it,  may  have  led,  in  a  de- 
gree, to  the  oversight  of  the  point  in  which  it  differs.  With 
the  seed  and  the  field,  the  growing  grain  and  the  time  of  har- 
vest, and  the  incidental  lessons  which  are  clustered  around  the 
central  law  of  vegetation,  we  are  well  acquainted.  There  is, 
perhaps,  no  natural  fact  which  is  made  the  image  and  vehicle 
of  so  many  spiritual  truths ;  but  it  is  possible  that  some — per- 
haps many  of  us — have  not  particularly  studied,  or  clearly 
grasped  the  truth  which  the  Saviour  meant  to  convey  when  he 
represented  the  spiritual  husbandman  as  leaving  the  seed  to 
itself,  after  having  cast  it  into  the  soil,  and,  free  from  anxiety, 
if  not  with  carelessness  concerning  it,  giving  his  attention  to 
other  matters.  Certainly  this  is  a  phase  of  "the  kingdom  of 
Grod,"  which  we  are  less  in  the  habit  of  considering  than  some 
others :  we  do  not  say  that  it  is  more  important,  but  would  only 


190  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Scr. 

suggest  that  it  is  necessary  to  the  completeness  of  our  views  and 
the  best  development  of  our  Christian  experience. 

The  passage  under  consideration  presents  three  or  four  related 
truths  to  which  we  ask  your  attention,  and  first  and  chiefly  to  that 
just  now  adverted  to.  It  gives  character  and  form  to  the  para- 
ble, and  stands  at  its  beginning.  "So  is  the  kingdom  of  God, 
as  if  a  man  should  cast  seed  into  the  ground,  and  should  sleep, 
and  rise  night  and  day,  and  the  seed  should  spring  and  grow  up, 
he  knoweth  not  how,  for  the  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of  her- 
self." 

The  rising  night  and  day,  if  the  expression  stood  alone,  might 
be  supposed  to  imply  even  an  excess  of  anxious  care  for  the  seed 
which  had  been  sown ;  but  in  this  connexion  it  plainly  means 
the  very  opposite  of  this,  and  simjoly  denotes  the  state  of  feel- 
ing and  manner  of  life  led  by  one  who  had  discharged  a  piece  of 
business — had  done  either  all  that  was  in  his  power,  or  all  that 
the  matter  in  hand  required  in  order  to  its  completion  and  suc- 
cess. The  natural  fact  which  gives  us  the  expression  of  this 
spiritual  and  divine  truth,  affords  a  perfect  illustration  of  its 
sense  and  its  limitations.  When  a  farmer  has  deposited  his 
seed- wheat  in  a  well-prepared  field,  his  part  and  agency  in  the 
production  of  the  crop  is  absolutely  at  an  end.  He  can  proceed 
no  further,  and  there  is  nothing  more  for  human  power  to  do. 
He  has  come  to  the  boundary  which  no  man  can  pass  over,  on 
one  side  of  which  is  the  sphere  of  human  labour,  and  on  the 
other  the  sphere  of  Divine  efficiency.  If  he  chooses  to  p«t  him- 
self about  what  belongs  not  to  him,  and  forebode,  as  many  do, 
excessive  rains,  parching  droughts,  and  untimely  frosts,  he  may 
do  so,  but  he  will  not  thereby  hasten  or  retard  the  processes  of 
nature,  or  change  the  course  of  things  in  the  slightest  degree,  or 
m  the  least  particular.     The  "  taking  thought"  which  our  Lord 


XIL]  THE  BLADE,    THE   EAR,    AND  THE  FULL  CORN.  191 

declares  cannot  add  one  cubit  to  our  stature,  or  make  one  hair 
white  or  black,  is  equally  fruitless  when  expended  on  the  seed 
which  we  have  committed  to  the  care  of  God,  by  casting  it  into 
the  earth.  A  pious  trust  in  a  benignant  Providence,  and  the 
ancient  promise  of  summer  and  winter,  seed-time  and  harvest, 
should  relieve  the  husbandman  of  anxious  care ;  and,  piety  and 
providence  out  of  the  question,  exiDcrience  and  common  sense 
should  teach  him  that  his  anxiety,  however  intense  and  torment- 
ing, does  no  good,  and  may  well  be  dispensed  with.  Neverthe- 
less, it  is  important  to  mark  the  point  up  to  which  human  labour 
and  pains  are  of  use,  and  of- such  indispensable  necessity  that,  in 
their  absence,  all  the  self-acting  powers  of  the  earth  to  which 
the  parable  refers,  and  the  subtle  agency  of  the  invisible  God, 
will  never  produce  so  much  as  a  handful  or  a  grain  of  wheat. 
The  husbandman  of  the  parable  did  not  resign  himself  to  ease, 
or  go  to  other  occupations,  till  he  had  ' '  cast  his  seed  into  the 
ground."  This  implies  more  than  it  expresses.  It  suggests  a 
careful  preparation  of  the  soil,  to  make  it  a  fit  receptacle  of  the 
seed,  and  shows  that  the  part  allotted  to  man  in  natural  hus- 
bandry, though  humble,  is  necessary,  and  in  amount  quite  suf- 
ficient to  occupy  his  time  and  exhaust  his  powers. 

The  sense  of  the  figure  being  thus  plain  and  unmistakable,  we 
inquire  for  its  counterpart  in  the  high  realities  of  the  spiritual 
world.  And  here  we  meet  a  question  of  vital  importance  to  the 
interpretation  of  the  parable.  Is  the  man  who  casts  the  seed 
into  the  ground  and  leaves  it  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or  does  this 
represent  the  ministers  of  the  word,  who  publish  his  doctrines 
and  become  the  instruments  of  salvation  to  their  fellow-men? 
If  we  refer  the  language  to  Him,  there  is  the  difficulty  of  its  at- 
tributing to  him  what  seems  unworthy  of  him ; — ^inattention 
and  sleep,  and  even  ignorance,  which  might  appear  to  go  be\^ond 


192  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

what  is  warranted  by  the  fact  of  his  having  withdrawn  from  the 
world  and  "gone  into  heaven,"  leaving  his  truth  and  his  church 
to  work  their  way  on  earth  without  his  bodily  presence. 

But  the  language  need  not  be  pressed  in  its  literal  breadth, 
and,  all  things  considered,  we  incline  to  the  view  which  regards 
Jesus  himself  as  being,  though  not  exclusively,  yet  primarily 
intended  by  the  sower  in  this,  as  in  the  like  parable  of  the  tares 
in  the  field. 

This  representation  agrees  also  with  that  in  the  parables  of 
the  talents  and  of  the  pounds,  which  speak  of  him  as  going  into 
a  far  country,  and  remaining  away  for  a  long  time,  leaving  his 
servants  meanwhile  to  act  on  their  own  responsibility,  and  in  ac- 
cordance with  their  own  free  will.  Applying  this  description  to 
the  actual  facts  of  history  and  experience,  it  has  a  twofold  veri- 
fication in  the  church  and  in  the  soul.  Coming  to  the  earth  by 
his  incarnation  and  visible  ministry,  Jesus  planted  the  seed  of 
his  immortal  and  life-giving  doctrine  in  the  field  of  the  world ; 
and  then,  as  if  in  the  assured  confidence  that  the  seed  would 
grow,  and  yield  a  plentiful  and  glorious  harvest,  he  returned  to 
heaven  to  await  with  patience  the  maturing  of  the  crop.  That 
he  gives  no  attention  to  the  growing  grain,  and  leaves  it  without 
the  fostering  care  of  his  quickening  Spirit,  is  certainly  not  true, 
and  is  not  of  necessity  implied  in  the  terms  of  the  text :  the 
thing  intended  is  the  fact  of  his  personal  and  bodily  absence, 
and  the  inherent  life  and  certain  growth  of  his  truth  and  grace  as 
a  deposit  in  the  church  and  in  the  world.  In  the  conditions 
which  surround  it,  the  seed  of  evangelical  truth  is  as  sure  to  live, 
and  grow,  and  fructify,  as  is  the  grain  Avhich  the  farmer  sows  in 
the  alluvial  soil  of  his  well  tilled  fields.  The  vitality  of  seeds  is 
wonderful.  It  is  said  that  a  grain  of  wheat  which  was  found  in 
the  hand  of  an  Egyptian  mummy,  where  it  had  lain  for  perhaps 


XII.]    THE  BLADE,  THE  EAR,  AND  THE  FULL  CORN.     103 

three  thousand  j'^ears,  germinated,  and  according  to  the  primeval 
law,  brought  forth  seed  after  its  kind.  The  word  of  Grod,  planted 
in  the  field  of  humanity,  is  such  a  deathless  germ. 

"  Though  it  lie  buried  long  in  dust, 
It  shan't  deceive  our  hope." 

Scattered  from  a  Divine  hand,  it  shall  be  like  the  rain  and  the 
snow  that  come  down  from  heaven  and  return  not  thither,  but 
water  the  earth,  making  it  bring  forth  and  bud,  that  it  may 
give  seed  to  the  sower  and  bread  to  the  eater. 

The  ordinance  of  the  day  and  the  night,  and  the  law  of  the 
seasons,  and  the  nature  of  all  material  things  shall  sooner  change 
than  this  Divine  seed  shall  return  to  the  Griver  of  it  void,  or  fail 
to  prosper  in  the  thing  to  which  he  sent  it.  The  harvest  of  a 
regenerated  world  and  of  a  glorified  church  is  therefore  certain. 
If  we  withdraw  our  view  from  the  relations  of  Christ  and  his 
truth  to  the  world,  and  regard  his  dealings  with  the  individual 
heart,  there  is  even  here  a  sense  in  which,  after  the  seed  of  a 
regenerate  nature  is  given  by  the  Saviour's  first  and  special  com- 
ing to  convert  the  soul,  he  in  a  manner  withdraws,  and  deals 
with  it  no  more  in  this  marvellous  and  powerful  way,  till  it  is 
ripe  for  the  heavenly  garner,  when  he  comes  the  second  time, 
and  gathers  the  matured  grain.  The  word  of  Grod,  implanted 
by  the  Spirit  and  received  by  faith,  is  the  seed  of  the  new  life  in 
gracious  souls.  Once  rooted  in  the  spiritual  nature,  it  never 
dies.  Moral  hinderances  within  and  without,  corresponding  to 
drought,  and  cold,  and  shade,  in  the  natural  world,  may  retard 
its  growth  and  impair  its  vigour,  but  it  is  a  germ  of  immortality, 
breaking  at  length  through  all  fetters,  creeping  forth  to  the  sun- 
light of  divine  love,  in  which  it  delights,  and  yielding  the  fruit 
of  perfect  sanctification.     "  Immortal  principles  forbid  the  sons 


194  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

of  God  to  sin."  "He  tliat  is  born  of  God  sinneth  not ;  for  his 
seed  remaineth  in  him,  and  he  cannot  sin,  because  he  is  born  of 
God." 

The  word  of  God  is  the  seminal  principle^  the  divine  germ 
from  which  the  new  hfe  of  the  soul  arises,  and  out  of  which 
' '  the  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus  is  unfolded : ' '  and  that  is  a 
beautiful  commentary  on  this  view  of  the  text  which  we  have 
from  Peter,  who  describes  the  Christian  as  ' '  born  not  of  cor- 
ruptible seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  by  the  word  of  God,  which 
liveth  and  abideth  for  ever. ' '  When  it  takes  root  in  the  heart, 
its  own  immortality  is  the  pledge  of  life  eternal  to  the  soul  with 
which  it  is  united,  and  such  an  interposition  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
never  again  required  till  the  work  of  grace  is  done,  and  He  who 
sowed  the  field  returns  to  reap  the  grain. 

But  we  need  not,  and  indeed  cannot,  with  consistency,  regard 
Christ  as  the  exclusive  sower  of  the  seed.  In  the  work  of  saving 
sinners  and  recovering  the  world  to  God,  there  are  many  things 
in  which  we  can  have  no  participation  with  Christ,  and  in  refer- 
ence to  which  it  maybe  said,  that  "of  the  people  there  was 
none  with  him. ' '  Such  an  exclusive  Divine  act  was  the  atone- 
ment, and,  in  general,  all  that  pertains  to  the  mediation  which 
reconciles  men  to  God. 

In  other  respects,  believers  are  taken  into  union  and  fellow- 
ship with  Christ ;  becoming  members  of  a  body  of  which  he  is  the 
head,  animated  with  his  life,  controlled  by  his  Spirit,  and  co- 
working  with  him,  as  the  instruments  of  his  power,  and  the 
channels  of  his  grace  to  the  world.  In  a  lower  sphere,  and  in  a 
limited  sense,  they  do  the  same  things  that  he  doeth,  becoming, 
through  their  prayers  and  labours,  the  instrumental  saviours  of 
those  of  whom  he  is  the  only  and  efficient  Redeemer.  If  he  above  all 
otliers  is  the  sower,  who  with  eifectual  power  sows  the  seed  of 


XII.]  THE  BLADE,    THE  EAR,    AND  TEE  FULL  CORN.  195 

truth  and  grace  in  tlie  heart,  his  inferior  ministers  and  servants 
are  sowers  too,  who  scatter  the  precious  seed  of  the  word  in  the 
broad  field  of  our  lapsed  humanity :  and  for  these,  there  is  a 
lesson  of  peculiar  interest.  It  is  aimed  against  one  of  our  inis- 
takes,  to  call  it  by  the  softe"st  name,  and  is  designed  to  cultivate 
a  grace  which  is  alike  honourable  to  God  and  promotive  of  our 
own  happiness.  The  state  of  mind  which  it  condemns,  is  a  dis- 
trustful and  anxious  care  about  the  results  of  our  labour ;  the 
feeling  it  describes  and  approves,  is  a  peaceful  and  confident 
hope  that  the  same  Grod  who  in  nature  gives  the  increase,  will 
in  due  time  crown  our  labours  with  the  success  which  is  meet, 
and  bring  to  maturity  every  work  of  grace  which  we  are  instru- 
mental in  beginning.  It  requires  a  little  discrimination  to  see 
precisely  what  it  is  which  on  the  one  side  is  condemned,  and  on 
the  other  is  commended  by  the  image  of  a  man  casting  seed  into 
the  ground  and  dismissing  it  from  his  thoughts,  and  giving  him- 
self with  a  light  heart  to  other  occupations.  It  does  not  dis- 
courage labour  and  pains,  but  is  meant  to  confine  them  to  their 
own  sphere,  and  show  how  and  where  they  are  to  be  applied. 

We  stand  in  no  sort  of  need  of  being  warned  against  excessive 
industry  in  seeking  a  spiritual  harvest,  or  against  having  too 
eager  and  longing  desires  for  the  success  of  our  efforts  in  the  con- 
version of  souls.  Our  danger  lies  all  in  the  other  direction. 
Both  as  it  respects  labours  and  desires,  we  constantly  fall  very 
far  below  the  measure  of  our  duty  and  opportunities,  and  there 
is  nothing  here  or  elsewhere  in  Scripture,  which  is  calculated  to 
restrain  our  exertions  or  lessen  our  ardour.  We  cannot  possibly 
do  too  much  in  the  wise  and  prudent  use  of  means  and  en- 
deavours to  bring  men  to  the  knowledge  of  salvation.  As  in 
natural  husbandry,  the  more  pains  that  arc  taken  to  prepare  the 
soil  and  put  it  in  the  best  condition,  the  greater  the  prospect  for 


196  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

an  abundant  yield  of  choice  grain,  so  it  is  in  the  department  of 
our  spiritual  toil. 

In  these  preliminary  acts,  and  in  this  humble  sphere  of  feeble 
instrumentality,  we  can  neither  do  nor  feel  too  much,  and  the 
assurance  that  he  shall  come  again,'  "bringing  his  sheaves  with 
him,  is  given  only  to  him  that  goeth  forth  and  "  weepeth,  bear- 
ing precious  seed,"  But  having  done  this,  our  duty  ceases  with 
our  power.  Duty  is  ours;  events  'are  God's.  Having  ex- 
hausted our  strength  and  pains  on  means  and  labours,  it  is  both 
our  duty  and  our  privilege  to  commit  the  case  to  the  Lord,  in 
cheerful  hope  that  the  result  will  in  its  season  appear,  and  be 
such  as  will  redound  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  our  own  happiness 
and  reward.  This  is  not  indifference  about  the  result,  not  car- 
ing whether  it  come  soon  or  come  at  all,  neither  is  it  inconsistent 
with  prayer  that  it  may  be  both  speedy  and  glorious,  but  the 
precise  thing  it  bids  us  put  away  is  an  unbelieving  and  useless 
anxiety  about  the  result  of  our  labours ;  a  carefulness  which 
springs  from  the  want  of  perfect  confidence  in  the  promises  and 
gracious  designs  of  God,  and  only  makes  us  uneasy  and  unhappy, 
without  furthering,  in  the  remotest  manner  or  slightest  degree, 
the  object  on  which  it  is  vainly  spent. 

And  this  suggests  a  principal  reason  for  cultivating  the  believ- 
ing, hopeful,  happy  temper,  and  frame  of  mind  which  the  para- 
ble recommends.  Corroding  care  even  for  spiritual  results 
renders  us  miserable,  and  does  no  good.  Therefore,  let  it  be 
dismissed,  and  let  the  apostolic  exhortation  which  bids  us  "be 
careful  for  nothing, ' '  be  followed  in  its  widest  scope,  and  in  all 
its  applications.  But  the  greatest  reason  of  all  is,  that  a  confi- 
dent and  joyful  hope  in  those  who  sow  the  divine  seed  of  God's 
word  by  their  sanctified  labours,  honours  and,  pleases  him,  and 
thus  silently  tends  to  secure  the  blessings  which  unbelieving 


XIL]  THE  BLADE,    THE  EAR,    AND  THE  FULL  CORN.  197 

fears  and  forebodings  hinder  rather  than  help.^^  Those  whose 
toils  in  the  work  of  human  salvation  God  has  most  largely  blest, 
have  commonly  been  not  only  men  of  abundant  labours,  but  of 
strong  faith  and  cheerful  hope :  men  who  believed  that  God 
would  do  as  he  said,  and  that  the  gospel  was  verily  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation.  Faith,  and  hope,  and  patience  are  as 
vitally  related  to  the  harvest  of  redeemed  souls  as  are  the  pains 
and  efforts  of  spiritual  industry.  "Behold,  the  husbandman 
waiteth  for  the  precious  fruit  of  the  earth,  and  hath  long  pa- 
tience for  it,  untithe  receive  the  early  and  latter  rain."  "Be 
ye  also  patient :  stablish  your  hearts,  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
draweth  nigh. ' '  Doing  our  part,  we  may  rest  assured  that  God 
will  do  his.  "  The  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of  herself,"  when 
once  the  seed  has  been  cast  into  her  bosom,  and  just  so  soon  as 
any  word  of  truth  has  been  uttered,  or  spiritual  service  has  been 
rendered,  or  holy  influence  has  gone  forth  from  us,  it  passes  into 
the  region  over  which  God  presides,  and  is  taken  under  his  care^ 
and  combined  with  the  invisible  and  mighty  agencies  of  his  pro- 
vidence and  Holy  Spirit ! 

In  the  moral  world  there  is,  under  the  mediation  of  Jesus 
Christ,  a  "good  ground"  and  a  prepared  soil,  into  which,  when 
the  seed  of  the  word  is  cast,  it  brings  forth  fruit  of  itself,  with- 
out human  care,  and  under  conditions  which  the  grace  of  God 
has  ordained.  God's  efficient  care  dispenses  with  our  fruitless 
anxieties,  and  lays  a  good  foundation  for  peaceful  trust  and  pa- 
tient waiting. 

It  is  possible  that  some  of  you  may  be  tempted  to  regard  this 

frame  of  mind,  now  brought  forward  in  the  light  of  a  virtue  and 

grace,  as  of  suspicious  and  doubtful  character  :  and  it  must  be 

acknowledged  that  it  bears  a  suiDcrticial  resemblance  to  a  state 

of  feeling  which  meets  unqualified  disapprobation  in  the  Scrip- 
17* 


198  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

tures:  nevertl|^ess,  the  difference  is  as  wide  as  the  poles  be- 
tween the  Laodicean  indifference  which  does  nothing,  as  well  as 
cares  for  nothing,  and  the  quietness  and  rest  of  those  who,  hav- 
ing done  their  duty,  look  with  confidence  for  the  promised  bless- 
ing. And  just  here,  it  is  in  place  to  note  the  fact  that  a  right 
dividing  of  the  Divine  word  does  not  give  the  same  truth  to  all 
persons.  There  is  milk  for  babes,  and  strong  meat  for  men,  and 
a  portion  in  due  season  for  every  phase  of  character,  and  for 
every  condition  of  religious  experience.  And  it  is  easy  to  see 
that  the  peculiar  form  of  truth  on  which  we  have  been  dwelling, 
is  not  needed  by  a  certain  class  of  persons,  and  perhaps  we  ought, 
in  truth,  to  say  a  certain  class  of  Christians. 

Individuals  who  are  "at  ease  in  Zion,"  neither  feeling  anx- 
ious about  results,  nor  expending  labour  and  pains  on  the  in- 
strumentalities which  are  designed  to  build  up  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  to  save  the  souls  of  men,  are  certainly  not  in  danger  of 
running  into  an  excess  of  anxiety,  and  need  no  caution  against 
it.  They  would  only  be  injured  by  the  thought ;  and  if  such 
are  here,  J.  forewarn  them  that  this  part  of  Scripture  truth  is  not 
for  them.  But  to  such  as  are  labouring  hard  in  the  Lord's  field, 
and  ardently  longing  for  the  visible  fruits  of  their  toil,  and  yet 
are  laying  upon  their  souls  a  burden  of  care,  which  the  Divine 
Husbandman  himself  has  been  pleased  to  assume,  the  lesson  is 
neither  dangerous  nor  useless,  but  altogether  salutary  and  bene- 
ficial. 

Relieved  of  distracting  and  distressing  anxieties,  we  are  en- 
abled to  pursue  the  laboui'  which  belongs  to  us  with  a  fighter 
heart,  doing  it  in  larger  measure  and  with  greater  efficiency. 

In  seeking  to  unfold  and  illustrate  this,  the  principal  and 
characteristic  lesson  of  the  parable,  we  have  left  but  little  space 
for  noticing  its  subordinate  teachings,  which  are  yet  of  much 


XII.]         THE  BLADE,   THE  EAR,   AND  THE  FULL  CORN.  109 

importance.  Two  or  three  points  may  be  touched  in  a  few 
words. 

1.  In  saying  that  the  seed  groweth  up  we  "know  not  how," 
the  mysterious  nature  and  working  of  grace  is  hinted  at.  It  is 
not  regulated  by  natural  laws,  though  they  afford  many  ilkistra- 
tive  analogies.  It  cannot  be  reduced  to  a  science,  like  agricul- 
ture or  mechanics.  There  is  no  philosophy  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Regeneration  is  not  the  result  of  any  forces  which  human  reason 
defines  and  gauges,  much  less  controls :  and  the  divine  life  which 
is  breathed  into  the  soul  by  the  mysterious  visitation  of  the 
Spirit,  blowing  like  the  wind,  of  which  we  cannot  tell  whence  it 
Cometh  and  whither  it  goeth,  is  afterwards  maintained  by  super- 
natural supplies  from  the  same  invisible  source,  and  is  ' '  hid 
with  Christ  in  God."  The  processes  and  the  instrumentali- 
ties by  which  it  is  advanced,  are  often  such  as  reason  would 
reject ;  and  the  subject  of  grace  himself  murmurs  at  and  ac- 
counts them,  at  first,  instruments  of  destruction,  rather  than  of 
edification.  And  the  very  experiences  which  mark  the  Chris- 
tian's forward  movement  are  oftentimes  to  himself  the  most 
painful  mysteries,  viewed  rather  as  evidences  of  backsliding, 
than  as  victorious  struggles  with  corruption,  or  temporary  de- 
feats, which  are  necessary  to  prepare  him  for  a  final  triumph. 

In  retrospect,  the  way  that  God  has  led  us  is  very  wonderful, 
and  the  secret  history  of  the  heart  is  not  less  marvellous  than 
the  events  and  the  course  of  the  outward  journey.  As  the  seed 
grows  secretly,  and  no  science  can  explain  the  mystery  of  vege- 
table life,  so  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man — the  growth  of 
that  immortal  seed  of  truth  and  grace  which  the  Spirit  plants — 
is  a  mystery  which  eludes  all  rational  criticism,  and  is  to  be  ac- 
cepted simply  as  a  truth  of  revelation,  and  as  a  fact  of  expe- 
rience. 


200  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

Asserting  its  mysteriousness,  the  imagery  of  the  text  gives  us 
a  beautiful  expression  of  its  progress,  through  successive  stages, 
to  its  destined  maturity : — "First  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after 
that,  the  full  corn  in  the  ear. ' '  In  the  wondrous  transformation 
of  the  soul  thus  typified,  there  is,  in  the  very  beginning  of  it,  a 
secret  process  hid  from  mortal  observation,  resembling  that 
swelling  and  germinating  of  the  seed  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
ground ;  anxious  thoughts,  deep  convictions,  and  silent  prayers, 
which  precede  and  accompany  the  birth  of  the  soul,  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and,  for  a  time,  a  shrinking  disposition 
which  conceals  the  new  and  strange  experience.  When  the 
crisis  is  past,  and  the  soul  emerges  into  the  light  and  joy  of  for- 
giveness and  the  hope  of  salvation,  religion  becomes  more  posi- 
tive and  outspoken,  and  the  tender  "blade"  of  the  new  life 
appears.  It  is  joy,  and  peace,  and  love,  delight  in  the  ordi- 
nances of  Divine  worship,  and  the  communion  of  saints.  Or, 
under  another  figure  which  the  Scriptures  use  to  describe  the 
same  thing,  it  is  the  simplicity  and  confidence,  and  docility  and 
new-born  joys  of  childhood  introduced  into  a  world  of  novelty 
and  beauty,  and  glory. 

By  insensible  and  slow  degrees,  this  incipient  condition  of 
grace  advances,  till  the  simple  and  tender  "blade  "  assumes  the 
rounded  development  of  the  "ear,"  or  head  of  grain,  which 
may  stand  for  the  outline  of  a  definite  Christian  character.  It 
is  strength,  and  stature,  and  symmetry  added  to  the  joyous  ex- 
periences of  the  soul's  "  earhest  love :"  and  while  there  may  be 
less  of  sensible  delight,  there  is  more  of  the  substantial  and  en- 
during qualities  of  Christian  character.  The  advancement  mea- 
sured by  the  difference  between  the  blade  and  the  ear,  is  just  the 
process  indicated  by  the  apostle,  of  "adding"  to  the  "faith" 
which  first  embraced  Jesus  Christ  for  salvation,  the  graces  of 


XII.]  THE  BLADE,   THE  EAR,   AND  THE  FULL  CORN.  201 

"virtue,  knowledge,  godliness,  charity,"  and  all  the  rest  which 
form  and  beautify  the  Christian  life.  And  as  in  nature  there 
is  a  progress  beyond  the  formation  of  the  ear,  to  the  "full  corn 
in  the  ear, "  so  in  the  growth  of  grace,  there  is  a  mellow  ripe- 
ness of  piety  observable  in  many  Christians,  which  rests  like  a 
crown  of  beauty  on  their  heads.  It  is  not  so  much  the  glow  of 
the  heart's  first  love  which  marks  the  infancy  of  grace,  or  the  vigor- 
ous activities  which  characterize  the  zeal  of  its  manhood,  as  it 
is  a  deeper  acquaintance  with  God  and  with  ourselves  r  inspir- 
ing profound  humility,  patience  in  tribulations,  deadness  to  the 
world,  and  more  of  charity  in  our  judgments.  It  is  the  case  of 
those  who  being  "planted  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  are  fat  and 
flourishing,  still  bringing  forth  fruit  in  old  age. ' ' 

The  uses  of  this  feature  of  a  gracious  life  are  two.  It  should 
teach  us  not  to  "  despise  the  day  of  small  things,"  in  others  or 
in  ourselves;  and,  it  should  incite  us  to  unwearied  struggles 
after  higher  Christian  attainments.  The  modest  little  blade 
which  presses  up  through  the  parting  earth,  is  not  the  ear  nor 
the  full  corn  in  the  ear,  but  it  is  that  from  which  they  grow,  and 
without  which  they  could  never  be. 

Have  charity  and  patience  for  these  faint  uprisings  of  grace 
in  others ;  tread  them  not  rudely  down,  but  cherish  them  as 
buds  of  promise  and  germs  of  salvation :  and  if  you  find  nothing 
more  in  yourself,  destroy  them  not  by  unbelief,  despondency,  or 
neglect.  Yet  be  not  satisfied  therewith.  "  Go  on  to  perfection. ' ' 
Court  the  sunshine,  inhale  the  air,  drink  in  the  rain  of  heavenly 
visitation:  and  shrink  not  from  the  chilling  blasts  and  beating 
storms  which  "root  and  ground"  the  soul  in  the  knowledge 
and  love  of  God.  By  slow  and  sure  advances,  you  will  thus 
reach  the  maturity  which  Christ  has  appointed  for  you,  and  then 
will  come  another  crisis  of  surpassing  interest.     He  who  sows 


202  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

the  seed  and  waits  for  its  growth  and  ripeness,  does  not  leave 
the  grain  to  perish  where  it  grew.  But  "when  the  frnit  is 
brought  forth,  immediately  he  putteth  in  the  sickle,  because 
the  harvest  is  come. "  It  is  transferred  from  the  field  to  the 
granary !  By  this  pleasing  image,  the  Saviour  describes  an  event 
from  which  nature  recoils. 

As  it  is  no  damage  to  the  grain  to  reap  it,  and  gather  it  into 
the  barn,  but  only  that  which  takes  place  in  the  course  of  na- 
ture; SO' to  the  Christian,  in  whom  the  ripe  fruits  of  grace  are 
produced,  it  does  no  harm,  but  only  completes  and  secures  for 
ever  the  work  of  his  redemption. ' ' 

The  "  Reaper  who  in  our  gardens  gathers  flowers,  transplants 
them  in  the  Paradise  above,  and  the  sickle  which  so  rudely  cuts 
the  yellow  grain  of  ripened  piety,  gathers  it  to  its  predestined 
place  under  brighter  skies,  and  starts  it  upon  a  new  and  higher 
development  to  which  eternity  sets  no  bounds. ' ' 

Why  then  should  the  children  of  the  kingdom  be  afraid  of 
death  ?  Unnatural  to  us  as  creatures,  and  infinitely  to  be  feared 
by  unpardoned  sinners,  it  is  the  appointed  and  desired  issue  of 
our  course  as  Christians. 

It  is  but  a  removal — a  transplantation — a  saying  to  those  who 
occupy  the  lowest  room,  "  Come  up  higher."  "For  the  believer 
who  comes  to  his  grave  in  a  full  age,  like  as  a  shock  of  corn 
Cometh  in  his  season,"  there  is  no  reason  to  weep  :  and,  if  in 
ourselves,  the  inward  man  is  renewed  day  by  day,  we  need  not 
lament  the  decay  of  our  natural  faculties.  It  predicts  a  glory 
soon  to  dawn. 


XIII.]  god's  witnesses.  203 


SERMON  XIII. 

GOD'S  WITNESSES. 

IsA.  xliii.  10. — Ye  are  iny  witnesses,  saith  the  Lord. 

All  creatures  that  God  lias  made,  and  all  the  operations  of 
his  hands,  are  his  "  witnesses."  In  different  forms  and  varying 
degrees,  they  testify  somewhat  concerning  the  invisible  God, 
whom  no  man  hath  seen  or  can  see.  The  sun,  the  moon,  the 
stars,  bear  witness  to  "the  Father  of  lights,"  who  kindled  these 
celestial  lamps,  and  hung  them  out  in  the  visible  heavens  as  the 
symbols  of  himself 

•  All  that  has  been  given  to  them  they  impart,  declaring  the 
"  eternal  power  and  Godhead"  of  Him  who  dwells  above  them 
in  the  insufferable  light  of  the  "third  heavens. "  And  not  these 
mighty  orbs  alone,  but  all  creatures,  down  to  the  blade  of  grass 
and  the  lily,  which  divine  art  has  painted,  fulfil  the  same  great 
office.  Whatever  of  divinity  is  impressed  upon  them,  that  they 
show  to  all  beholders,  and  thus  render  the  tribute  of  their  testi- 
mony to  Him  who  "made  them  all."  And  not  the  creatures  in 
themselves,  but  their  order,  their  relations  one  to  another,  and 
their  movements, — in  a  word,  Providence,  as  well  as  Creation, — 
brings  its  offering  of  testimony  to  the  Being  and  Character  of 
Him  who  rules  the  worlds. 

Even  in  the  absence  of  a  direct  and  verbal  revelation,  "He 


204  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

hatli  not  left  himself  without  witness,  in  that  he  giveth  ns  rain 
from  heaven,  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling  our  hearts  with  food 
and  gladness. ' ' 

And  while  all  outward  and  material  things  give  concurrent 
evidence  of  His  existence,  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness,  a  testi- 
mony comes  up  from  the  depths  of  the  human  soul  to  his  charac- 
ter as  a  moral  Governor^  the  lover  of  righteousness,  and  the 
avenger  of  sin.  "When  the  (heathen),  which  have  not  the  law, 
do  by  nature  the  things  contained  in  the  law,  these  having  not 
the  law  are  a  law  unto  themselves,  who  show  the  work  of  the 
law  written  in  their  hearts,  their  conscience  also  bearing  witness, 
and  their  thoughts  the  meanwhile  accusing,  or  else  excusing  one 
another. ' ' 

The  testimony  which  is  obtained  in  these  diiferent  forms  from 
nature,  is  fundamentally  important :  without  it  there  could  be 
no  religion ;  yet  it  alone  is  not  sufficient  to  lead  men  to  the  sav- 
ing knowledge  of  God.  The  testimony  is  true,  but  it  is  not  ade- 
quate. 

Neither  creation,  nor  providence,  nor  conscience,  nor  all  of 
them  together,  make  known  the  whole  character  of  God.  The 
view  presented  is  correct  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  it  is  partial  and 
incomplete ;  and  being  taken  from  the  stand-point  of  sinners,  it 
is  obscured  and  distorted  by  the  blindness  of  their  hearts.  If, 
therefore,  it  is  the  will  and  pleasure  of  God  that  men  should 
come  to  the  true  and  saving  knowledge  of  himself, — as  from  the 
very  perfection  of  his  character  we  are  warranted  to  believe, — a 
further  testimony  is  necessary.  He  gives  it  in  the  revelations 
of  his  word,  wherein  all  things  which  pertain  to  life  and  godli- 
ness are  sufficiently  made  known ;  and  above  all,  in  the  mission 
and  ministry  of  his  Son,  whose  coming  and  kingdom,  Messiah- 
ship  and  Godhead,  were  "witnessed  beforehand  by  the  law  and 


XIIL]  god's  witnesses.  205 

the  prophets,"  and  at  the  time  of  his  appearing  were  attested 
by  signs  in  heaven  and  wonders  on  earth.  To  prepare  his  way 
and  point  him  out,  was  the  peculiar  office  of  John  the  Baptist, 
of  whom  it  is  said  that  he  "came  for  a  witness,  to  bear  witness 
of  the  Ught,  that  all  men  through  him  might  believe." 

Of  himself,  Jesus  declared — "To  this  end  was  I  born,  and 
for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that  I  should  bear  witness 
unto  the  truth." 

After  he  had  accomplished  the  work  which  his  Father 
gave  him  to  do,  and  had  returned  to  his  glory,  "the  word" 
which  had  begun  to  be  spoken  by  "the  Lord"  was  "confirmed 
unto  men  by  them  that  heard  him,  God  also  bearing  them  wit- 
ness, both  with  signs  and  wonders,  and  with  divers  miracles  and 
gifts  of  the  Holy  Grhost,  according  to  his  own  will. ' ' 

In  view  of  all  this,  it  might  seem  reasonable  to  ask — "  Is  not 
the  gospel  sufficiently  attested?  What  further  need  have  we  of 
witnesses?" 

The  gospel  and  its  Divine  Author  have  already  received  greater 
witness  than  that  of  men,  and  as  when  Jesus  was  on  earth,  so  now 
there  is  a  sense  in  which  he  ' '  receives  not  testimony  from  man. ' ' 
His  own  mighty  deeds  were  the  credentials  which  accredited  him 
as  God's  ambassador  to  the  world,  and  now  it  is  his  own  omni- 
potent grace  that  "confirms  the  word  with  signs  following"  its 
ministration  in  souls  redeemed  from  iniquity.  Without  this  di- 
rect testimony  of  Jesus  to  his  own  gospel,  it  would  quickly  van- 
ish from  the  faith  of  the  world. 

But  this,  so  far  from  displacing  and  rendering  all  inferior  tes- 
timony needless,  prepares  the  way  for  it — in  fact,  creates  it :  and 
he  now  says  to  his  church,  and  to  every  company  of  believers — 
"  Ye  are  my  witnesses."     It  is  a  position  of  the  highest  honour 

and  most  solemn  responsibility.     Witnesses  for  God,  his  charac- 
18 


206  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

ter,  his  honour,  nnd  the  interests  of  his  kingdom  on  earth,  de- 
pend on  the  testimony  we  bear.  The  image  of  the  text  repre- 
sents him  as  in  some  sort  on  trial  before  the  jury  of  an  unbe- 
lieving world. 

In  civil  courts  the  verdict  turns  on  the  testimony  rendered, 
and  when  the  property  or  reputation,  the  liberty  or  life  of  a  fel- 
low-citizen is  imperilled,  every  one  who  is  possessed  either  of 
honour  or  conscience,  feels  deeply  the  solemnities  of  an  oath, 
and  weighs  well  the  testimony  he  utters.  The  judgment  which 
the  world  pronounces  on  the  gospel,  the  cause,  and  the  salva- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ,  has  a  very  intimate  dependence  on  the  tes- 
timony borne  concerning  it  by  the  professed  friends  and  followers 
of  Christ.  They  are  the  only  living  and  visible  witnesses  he  has 
in  the  world.  I  do  not  say  that  any  testimony  they  can  bear, 
will  certainly  carry  conviction  to  the  minds  of  all  men.  A  per- 
son who  enters  the  jury-box  with  a  rooted  prejudice,  or  a  dis- 
honest purpose,  will  not  be  convinced  by  any  amount  of  evidence 
which  may  be  submitted.  There  were  men  who  with  the  cha- 
racter and  life,  the  doctrine  and  miracles  of  Jesus  full  in  view, 
did  not  believe  on  him.  They  had  prejudged  his  claims,  and 
their  hatred  of  his  doctrines  blinded  them  to  the  clear  proofs  of 
his  divinity.  None  are  so  blind  as  those  who  will  not  see,  nor 
80  skeptical  as  those  who  are  unwilling  to  believe.  We  are 
therefore,  not  to  conclude  that  the  unbelief  of  the  world  results 
entirely  from  the  defectiveness  of  the  church's  and  the  Chris- 
tian's testimony — much  less,  that  it  is  thereby  justified. 

But  though  conviction  may  not  be  forced,  nor  eifectually  se- 
cured in  all  cases,  it  is  certain  that  the  testimony  which  profess- 
ing Christians  bear  to  Christ  and  his  gospel,  is  closely  and  vitally 
connected  with  the  success  of  his  cause  and  the  salvation  of  n»en. 

I.  And  we  may  assume  as  a  first  and  fundamental  position,  that 


XIII.]  god's  witnesses.  207 

it  is  needed.  It  requires  no  proof  that  the  world  around  us  re- 
mains in  unbehef,  and  turns  with  indifference  or  scorn  from  the 
overtures  of  the  gospel.  Unbelievers  are  in  much  the  same 
case  as  those  idolaters  whom  the  prophet  describes  in  the  con- 
text: "Blind  people  that  have  eyes,  and  the  deaf  that  have 
ears."  They  are  rational,  intelligent,  accountable,  and  in  every 
other  direction  employ  their  faculties  as  reasonable  creatures 
might  be  expected  to  do.  They  desire  knowledge,  they  go  in 
quest  of  light,  they  put  themselves  to  expense  and  pains,  to  ac- 
quire information  which  may  be  turned  to  account  in  forwarding 
their  temporal  interests. 

If  they  felt  and  acted  in  the  same  way  with  respect  to  religion, 
the  necessity  for  the  personal  testimony  of  Christians  would  not 
be  so  urgent  as  it  is.  They  might  find  everything  which  they 
need  to  know,  fully  and  clearly  stated  in  the  Scriptures ;  they 
might,  if  they  would,  hear  the  doctrines  of  salvation  proclaimed 
and  expounded  in  the  sanctuary.  They  might  see  in  the  life  of 
Jesus  the  faultless  model  of  that  character  which  it  is  their  duty 
to  copy. 

In  this  manner,  a  far  more  complete  and  perfect  exhibition  of 
Divine  truth  might  be  obtained  than  it  is  possible  to  get  from 
the  character  and  life  even  of  those  who  most  closely  copy  those 
of  Christ,  and  afford  the  fullest  exemplification  of  the  gospel 
precepts,  in  their  walk  and  conversation.  But  there  are  many 
who  use  none  of  these  means  of  acquainting  themselves  with  the 
truth.  For  strong,  but  very  bad  reasons,  they  "come  not  to 
the  light. ' '  If  they  are  ever  to  behold  it,  it  must  be  carried  to 
them.  The  only  Bible  they  read  is  that  which  is  printed  in  the 
character  and  conduct  of  those  Christians  with  whom  the  inter- 
course and  business  of  life  bring  them  into  contact.  And  even 
in  the  case  of  those  who  are  in  the  habit  of  reading  the  Scrip- 


208  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

tures,  and  frequenting  the  house  of  God,  the  superadded  testi- 
mony of  Christ's  Hving  witnesses  is  greatly  needed.  If  not 
required  to  impart  knowledge — and  much  less  to  give  revelations 
additional  to  those  contained  in  the  Scriptures,  it  is  greatly  ne- 
cessary for  the  purpose  of  arresting  attention,  and  producing 
conviction,  and  for  this,  it  is,  as  we  may  see,  admirably  adapted. 
The  tendency  and  purpose  of  testimony  is  to  produce  belief  and 
conviction,  and  the  Christian,  as  a  witness  for  God,  is  like  the 
books  of  a  circulating  library  which  pass  from  hand  to  hand,  and 
house  to  house.  So  far  as  he  bears  the  image  and  breathes  the 
spirit  of  his  divine  Master,  he  is  a  "  living  epistle  known  and 
read  of  all  men."  In  the  absence  of  Jesus,  he  represents  him. 
Since  those  lips  which  once  spoke  on  earth  have*"  become  silent, 
he  speaks  for  him,  though  it  be  with  a  stammering  tongue ;  and 
though  the  light  in  which  he  shines  is  a  borrowed  radiance,  and 
but  a  dim  reflection  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  he  stands 
forth  amid  surrounding  darkness,  holding  up  the  taper  of  his 
testimony  for  a  Saviour  whom  men  neglect  or  revile.  It  is  be- 
cause of  this  relationship  to  Christ  as  witnesses  for  him,  that  the 
same  things  are  affirmed  of  him  and  of  his  followers. 

Speaking  of  himself,  and  directing  benighted  sinners  to  the 
true  source  of  salvation,  we  hear  him  say,  "I  am  the  light  of 
the  world :"  addressing  his  disciples,  and  teaching  them  at  once, 
the  height  of  their  privileges  and  their  obligations,  he  says, — 
"  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world."  He  is  the  source ;  they  the 
reflectors  of  light.  He  the  sun,  they  the  moons  of  the  system, 
and  as  the  moon  shines  most  brilliantly  and  fulfils  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  "  ordained,"  when  the  sun  is  absent,  so  these 
upon  whom  the  light  of  their  departed  Lord  yet  lingers,  illumi- 
nate the  night  of  the  world. 

Considering  the  attitude  which  unbelieving  men  occupy  to- 


XIII.]  GOD^S  WITNESSES.  209 

ward  Christ  as  he  is  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  and  held  forth 
in  the  ordinances  of  his  church,  it  is  evident  that  there  is  not 
onl}^  room  for  the  peculiar  instrumentality  referred  to  in  the 
text,  but  that  there  is  an  imperative  necessity  demanding  it. 
The  economy  of  salvation  involves  it  as  a  prominent  feature. 

11.  Its  adaptation  to  the  end  in  view  will  appear  from  con- 
sidering, in  the  second  place,  the  qualifications  of  believers 
to  be  witnesses  for  God.  The  character  and  position  ascribed 
to  them  take  for  granted  that  they  know  something  concerning 
God  which  others  do  not  know,  or  at  least  which  they  do  not 
believe  or  duly  consider :  and  further,  that  what  they  know  of 
God  may  be  certified  to  others  by  their  testimony.  Our  mental 
constitution  and  experience  lead  us  to  rely  on  testimony,  and  the 
most  of  all  that  we  know  or  believe  is  taken  upon  the  report  and 
authority  of  others.  The  sphere  of  oui*  personal  knowledge,  ex- 
perience, and  investigation,  is  very  limited,  and  the  sum  of  our 
information  would  be  small  indeed,  if  nothing  were  admitted  or 
received  beyond  what  falls  within  the  range  of  our  own  immedi- 
ate cognizance.  But  if  we  accept  what  others  know  and  testify, 
the  field  of  our  knowledge  is  immensely  enlarged  :  and  this  we 
do  in  reference  to  every  department  of  human  science,  and  every 
interest  of  man. 

Testimony  holds  an  important  place  in  religion.  Not  to  be- 
lieve any  testimony,  is  more  preposterous  and  absurd  than  the 
simple  credulity  which  "believeth  every  word."  In  weighing 
the  testimony  of  witnesses,  we  inquire,  in  the  first  place,  into  • 
their  integrity  and  veracity,  and  at  the  threshold  decide  the 
question  of  their  credibility.  Are  they  worthy  of  belief?  If 
there  is  good  reason  to  question  their  truthfulness,  we  do  not 
give  them  credit,  however  positive  and  explicit  their  statements. 

Subjected  to  this  criterion,  are  Christians  credible  witnesses 

18* 


210  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

when  they  speak  on  God's  behalf?  All  that  is  necessary  to  en- 
title them  to  credit,  is  that  they  should  be  as  truthful  as  other 
men  are — persons  whose  word  would  be  unhesitatingly  believed 
if  they  gave  testimony  before  an  earthly  tribunal.  That,  as  a 
class,  the  people  of  God  are  such,  is  a  point  which  does  not  re- 
quire argument.  Even  the  world  relies  upon  a  person's  Chris- 
tian profession  as  a  guaranty  for  his  veracity — such  is  the  result 
of  experience  and  observation.  It  is  not,  therefore,  pretended 
that  Christians  are  unworthy  of  confidence  when  they  give  testi- 
mony in  behalf  of  the  religion  they  profess,  and  of  the  God 
whom  they  serve.  The  attack  is  made,  not  upon  their  credibility, 
but  their  competency  as  witnesses.  It  is  admitted  that  they 
mean  to  speak  the  truth,  and  that  they  think  they  are  doing  so ; 
but  then,  it  is  urged,  they  are  ignorant,  mistaken,  deluded ;  and 
hence,  notwithstanding  their  honesty  of  intention,  their  testi- 
mony cannot  be  relied  on.  This  method  of  neutralizing  its  power 
is  by  far  the  most  plausible  which  the  world  and  infidelity  em- 
ploy ;  yet  a  little  consideration  is  sufficient,  as  I  think,  to  show 
that  the  objection  is  without  validity. 

Consider  what  it  is  that  renders  any  person  a  competent  wit- 
ness. It  is  not  his  general  information,  nor  his  learning,  nor 
the  extent  of  his  experience.  These  may,  in  particular  cases, 
add  something  to  the  strength  of  his  statements,  but  the  validity 
of  testimony  does  not  rest  on  any  such  foundation.  The  most 
illiterate  person  in  the  community,  a  youth,  a  child  even,  may 
•  bear  witness  to  a  fact  which  has  fallen  under  his  own  observa- 
tion, and  prove  it  with  the  same  irresistible  conviction  in  the 
minds  of  others,  as  if  it  were  sworn  to  by  the  most  learned  judges 
who  preside  in  our  courts.  Whether  a  Christian  be  gifted  with 
much  or  little  of  mental  power  and  cultivation,  he  is  perfectly 
competent  to  testify  to  that  which  has  fallen  within  the  range 


XIIL]  god's  witnesses.  211 

of  his  own  observation  and  experience.  If  other  men  declare 
that  they  have  never  had  any  such  experience,  this  is  mere  ne- 
gative testimony,  and  is  of  no  more  importance  than  that  of  a 
hundred  witnesses  who  were  not  present  when  an  event  hap- 
pened, or  an  action  was  performed,  if  brought  to  discredit  the 
evidence  of  one  man  who  was  present  and  did  see  it. 

Consider  also  what  it  is  to  which  the  people  of  Grod  give  tes- 
timony, and  their  competency  as  witnesses  will  be  still  further 
apparent.  It  is  not  to  the  truth  of  an  opinion,  nor  to  the  cor- 
rectness of  an  argument,  nor,  in  general,  to  the  Divine  origin  of 
the  Christian  rehgion,  nor  yet  to  the  fact  that  the  Bible  is  the 
word  of  God.  This  they  assuredly  believe,  and  confidently  af- 
firm ;  and,  as  logical  deductions  from  what  they  do  testify,  these 
propositions  may  follow  as  necessary  consequences ;  but  it  is  freely 
conceded  that  Christians  are  not  competent  to  prove,  by  direct 
testimony,  the  abstract  truth  of  the  gospel :  that  it  is  not  an  ob- 
ject of  their  immediate  knowledge  and  experience. 

Witnesses  are  not  called  to  prove  the  correctness  of  opinions 
and  the  truth  of  doctrines,  but  the  state  of  facts.  And  Chris- 
tians, as  the  witnesses  of  God,  certify  nothing  but  the  facts 
of  their  own  knowledge  and  experience.  This  is  distinctly 
indicated  in  the  words  which  follow  the  text  as  the  sub- 
ject-matter of  their  testimony:  "Ye  are  my  witnesses,  saith 
the  Lord,  and  my  servant  whom  I  have  chosen,  that  ye  may 
know  and  believe  me,  and  understand  that  I  am  he. "  "I  have 
declared,  and  have  saved,  and  I  have  showed  when  there  was 
no  strange  god  among  you ;  therefore  ye  are  my  witnesses,  saith 
the  Lord,  that  I  am  God."  The  dealings  of  God  with  their  own 
souls  is  the  matter  of  fact  to  which  believers  witness :  and  who 
can  say,  with  any  show  of  reason,  that  they  are  incompetent  to 
prove  a  thing  of  this  nature  ?    That  a  man  is  possessed  of  cer- 


212  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

tain  views,  feelings,  and  principles  of  action,  is  just  as  suscepti- 
ble of  proof  by  his  own  testimony,  as  are  the  outward  doings  of 
his  life.  Apply  this  principle  to  the  great  fundamental  fact  of 
Christian  experience,  and  one  of  the  greatest  stumbling-blocks 
to  an  unbelieving  world — the  fact  of  the  soul's  regeneration  by 
the  Spirit  of  Grod.  Is  it  not  of  such  a  nature  that  it  may  be 
proved  by  testimony?  And  is  not  the  person  who  has  experi- 
enced it  a  competent  witness?  He  knows,  by  infallible  evidences 
in  his  own  heart,  that,  in  a  moral  and  spiritual  view,  he  is  not 
the  man  he  once  was.  In  the  time  past  of  his  life,  as  he  re- 
members well,  he  hved  "without  God  in  the  world" — he  re- 
strained prayer — he  sought  his  chief  joy  in  gratifying  "the  lust 
of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eye,  and  the  pride  of  life,"  and  had 
no  sort  of  relish,  but,  on  the  contrary,  an  unconquerable  aver- 
sion for  all  spiritual  pleasures  and  employments.  Now,  all  this 
is  changed.  He  not  only  leads  a  different  life,  but  is  conscious 
of  different  affections,  motives,  and  sources  of  enjoyment. 
"Old  things  are  passed  away:  behold,  all  things  are  become 
new." 

Spiritually,  "he  is  a  new  creature:"  of  this  fact  there  is  no 
doubt :  but  a  question  remains.  How  has  the  change  been  ef- 
fected ?  Is  he  as  certain  that  it  has  been  wrought  by  the  Spirit 
of  Grod,  as  he  is  of  its  being  wi'ought  at  all  ?  He  did  not  see 
this  Divine  Agent  descending  upon  him,  nor  consciously  feel  the 
hand  of  omnipotent  grace  laid  on  his  heart.  It  is  admitted, 
the  author  of  regeneration  is  invisible,  and  his  action  on  the 
soul,  mysterious.  "The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and 
thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it 
cometh,  and  whither  it  goeth :  so  is  every  one  that  is  born  of 
the  Spirit." 

How  then  can  the  converted  sinner  be  assured  that  his  heart 


XIII. ]  god's  witnesses.  213 

has  been  the  subject  of  a  supernatural,  Divine  influence  ?  He 
knows  it  from  the  nature  of  the  effect  wrought  upon  him.  Its 
greatness  proves  that  it  sprang  from  a  power  immeasurably 
above  his  own,  and  its  spirituality  and  holiness  connect  it  im- 
mediately with  the  "Father  of  lights,  from  whom  cometh  every 
good  gift,  and  every  perfect  gift." 

He  is  profoundly  conscious  that  the  natural  bias  of  his  heart 
was  not  in  the  direction  of  such  a  change ;  so  far  from  this,  he 
remembers  well  that  he  positively  repelled  the  outward  agencies 
and  inward  convictions  which  looked  toward  it,  and  is  deeply 
persuaded  that  if  he  had  had  his  own  way,  he  never  would  have 
been  different  from  what  he  was  by  nature,  a  child  of  "  disobe- 
dience and  of  wrath."  He  is  therefore  just  as  certain  that  God 
is  the  author  of  the  change,  as  that  the  change  has  taken  place. 
Having  "  the  witness  in  himself,"  both  of  its  reality  and  divinity, 
he  is  competent  to  bear  witness  of  it  to  others. 

This  testimony  is  indefinitely  strengthened  by  the  multitude 
of  those  who  unite  in  it.  In  every  age,  thousands  and  millions 
have  uttered  it,  and  all  around  us  are  those  who  testify  that  Grod 
has  renewed  their  hearts. 

If  in  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses,  every  word  shall  be 
established,  much  more  shall  this  great  fact  of  regeneration  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  be  confirmed  by  the  consenting  testimony  of 
millions.  And  when  proved,  it  draws  along  with  it  the  whole 
of  Christianity.  The  chain  of  gospel  doctrine  and  of  God's  re- 
demptive purposes,  which  extends  from  a  past  to  a  coming  eter- 
nity, at  this  point  comes  into  direct  and  sensible  contact  with 
men,  and  fastens  one  of  its  golden  links  in  the  experience  of 
every  regenerate  soul.  The  link  draws  after  it  the  chain,  and 
grasping  this,  we  make  sure  of  all.  Or,  stating  the  argument 
in  the  fewest  and  simplest  words, — if  regeneration  is  a  fact,  the 


214  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

gospel  is  true.  Thougli  the  Christian,  therefore,  is  not  compe- 
tent to  bear  witness  to  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion,  he  is 
in  every  way  competent  to  prove  a  fact  on  the  existence  of  which 
the  truth  of  that  religion  hinges. 

Another  point  in  reference  to  which  the  testimony  of  Chris- 
tian experience  is  peculiarly  clear  and  strong,  and  the  unbelief 
of  the  world  is  peculiarly  stubborn,  is  the  fact  of  Grod's  hearing 
prayer,  and  faithfully  fulfilling  his  promises  to  those  who  call 
upon  him.  Like  the  former,  it  is  obviously  a  fact — if  sufficiently 
proved — of  vital  connexion  with  the  whole  doctrinal  system  of 
the  gospel.  If  it  is  a  fact  that  Grod  hears  prayer,  then  all  that 
the  Scriptures  teach  respecting  the  mercy-seat,  the  throne  of 
grace,  the  sacrifice  and  intercession  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  true  doc- 
trine. Can  the  fact  then,  be  established,  without  quoting  proof- 
texts  from  the  Scriptures,  and  upon  the  ground  of  human  testi- 
mony? On  this  subject  there  is  an  accumulation  of  proofs — a 
mass  of  testimony — recorded  not  only  in  the  pages  of  the  Bible, 
but  in  volumes  of  religious  biography,  and  witnessed  by  living 
men,  which,  if  brought  to  bear  upon  the  determination  of  any 
other  question  of  fact,  would  settle  it  for  ever,  beyond  the  pos- 
sibility of  cavil  or  doubt. 

By  a  wider  induction  of  individual  facts  and  experiences  than 
was  ever  brought  to  prove  a  natural  law  or  a  scientific  principle, 
it  is  established  that  Jehovah  is  a  prayer-hearing  and  a  prayer- 
answering  God.  Thousands  of  the  best  men  on  earth  not  only 
believe  but  testify  that  their  own  prayers  have  been  answered. 
The  previous  prayer  and  the  subsequent  blessing  stand  in  such 
a  marked  relation,  the  one  to  the  other,  that  they  recognize  the 
latter  as  Grod's  answer  to  the  former,  and  devoutly  cry  with  the 
Psalmist^-"  I  love  the  Lord,  because  he  hath  heard  my  voice 
and  my  supplications. 


XIII.  ]  god's  witnesses.  215 

Other  applications  of  the  principle  under  review  might  be 
made,  but  time  does  not  allow,  and  our  purpose  does  not  require 
it.  These  are  sufficient  to  show  that  believers  are  both  credible 
and  competent  "witnesses"  for  God,  establishing  by  their  tes- 
timony facts  of  Christian  experience  and  life  which  draw  after 
them,  by  inevitable  sequence,  the  whole  system  of  revealed 
truth. 

III.  When  Grod,  by  the  mouth  of  the  prophet,  said  to  Israel 
— "Ye  are  my  witnesses,"  it  seemed  to  be  his  purpose  to  sum- 
mon them  to  the  performance  of  the  function  implied  in  the 
character :  and  we  may  now  bestow  a  brief  consideration  on  the 
forms  in  which  this  duty  may  be  most  effectually  discharged. 

To  the  first  place  among  these  must  be  assigned,  as  I  imagine, 
the  silent  testimony  of  a  holy  life.  This  is  by  far  the  most 
convincing.  A  regenerated  and  holy  man  sustains  the  same 
relation  to  the  grace  of  God  which  the  material  universe 
sustains  to  his  power,  and  wisdom,  and  skill.  The  world  wit- 
nesses to  its  Creator,  and  in  like  manner  the  saved  sinner  wit- 
nesses to  his  Redeemer.  He  is  a  piece  of  Divine  workmanship 
— a  ' '  new  creation  in  Christ  Jesus. "  He  is  more :  he  is  such  a 
visible  image  of  the  invisible  God,  that  men  "take  knowledge 
of  him"  as  bearing  the  similitude  of  the  heavenly  and  divine, 
and  like  the  primitive  Christians,  in  the  case  of  the  converted 
Saul,  "  they  glorify  God  in  him."  Such  is  the  nature  of  this 
silent  testimony.  The  degree  of  its  power  depends  on  the 
clearness  and  completeness  with  which  the  Divine  likeness  is 
delineated  on  the  heart,  and  held  forth  in  the  life.  Some  por- 
traits are  such  exact  copies,  as  to  be  immediately  recognized  by 
those  who  have  seen  the  original.  Some  Christians  are  such 
miniature  images  of  Him  who  hath  renewed  them  after  his  own 
likeness.     In  others,  the  images  of  the  earthly  and  the  heavenly 


216  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Scr. 

are  so  blended,  that  it  is  difficult  to  decide  which  predominates ; 
and  the  effect  on  oui"  minds  resembles  that  produced  by  dis- 
crepancies and  contradictions  in  the  testimony  of  a  witness.  Its 
power  is  neutralized  by  its  inconsistency. 

And  as  one  ascertained  falsehood  casts  suspicion  on  all  the 
evidence  that  is  rendered,  and  prevents  even  that  portion  of  it 
which  may  be  true  from  gaining  credit,  so  with  regard  to  the 
testimony  we  bear  on  behalf  of  Grod.  Our  faults  and  follies  are 
not  judged  of  by  themselves,  and  referred  to  the  unsubdued  cor- 
ruption of  the  heart :  but  they  are  allowed  to  vitiate  the  virtue 
and  piety  with  which  they  are  connected,  and  they  do,  in  fact, 
throw  a  cloud  over  all  the  better  aspects  of  our  character. 

In  my  opinion,  there  are  few  subjects  which  Christians  have 
more  need  to  ponder  with  devout  and  faithful  self-examination 
than  the  question,  how  far  their  testimony  for  Grod  is  nullified 
by  the  blemishes  of  their  character,  and  by  the  practical  contra- 
dictions of  their  life.  It  is  probable  that  none  of  us  is  aware 
how  much  we  do  ourselves  to  destroy  our  influence.  We  see 
the  faults  of  others,  and  are  blind  to  our  own.  With  a  zeal  not 
according  to  knowledge,  we  set  ourselves  to  pull  the  mote 
out  of  a  brother's  eye,  unconscious  of  the  beam  that  fills  our 
own.  While  labouring  under  such  a  hallucination  as  this,  we  are 
but  sorry  witnesses  for  God.  Let  us  all,  my  brethren,  cultivate  the 
habit  of  looking  at  home — of  practising  severity  in  the  judgment 
of  ourselves,  and  charity  in  judging  others — and  let  us  make  it  our 
daily  study  to  bear  a  uniform  and  consistent  testimony  to  that  gos- 
pel which  we  profess.  A  man  who  breathes  a  Christian  spirit,  and 
exhibits  a  Christian  deportment;  who  lives  and  moves  in  the  at- 
mosphere of  that  charity  which  "  thinkcth  no  evil,  seeketh  not  her 
own,  and  is  not  puffed  up" — whose  animating  principle  is  that 
"wisdom  that  couieth  from  above,  and  is  first  pure,  then  peace- 


XIII.  ]  god's  witnesses.  217 

able,  gentle,  and  easy  to  be  entreated,  full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits, 
without  partiality,  and  without  hypocrisy," — such  a  man  bears 
a  testimony  to  the  gospel  and  grace  of  God,  which  the  world  can 
neither  "gainsay  nor  resist."  Such  a  character  is  just  as  evi- 
dently the  fruit  of  Divine  grace,  as  the  light  that  shines  around 
us  is  an  emanation  from  the  sun.  Light  is  self-revealing.  It 
needs  no  one  to  bear  witness  to  its  existence  and  its  nature.  We 
open  our  eyes  and  behold  it.  In  Hke  manner,  holiness  in  the 
characters  and  lives  of  men  is  a  beam  from  the  ' '  Father  of 
lights:"  its  divinity  is  self-revealing:  and  the  more  brightly  it 
shines,  the  more  convincing  is  the  witness  it  gives  to  the  being 
and  character  of  Grod.  By  the  appointment  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  in  the  degree  of  their  actual  sanctification,  believers 
are  "  the  light  of  the  world."  Having  announced  the  fact  and 
the  doctrine,  Jesus  turned  it  into  an  exhortation ;  and  what  he 
said  to  the  disciples,  I  now  address  to  you :  ' '  Let  your  light  so 
shine  before  men,  that  they  may  see  your  good  works,  and  glo- 
rify your  Father  which  is  in  heaven. ' ' 

That  passage  from  the  sermon  on  the  mount  exhibits  com- 
pletely the  argument  we  are  considering.  Personal  holiness — 
the  "good  works"  of  Christ's  disciples — are  the  effect  of  Divine 
grace,  and  are  so  recognized  by  those  who  observe  them,  and 
their  natural  tendency  is  to  lead  men  to  "glorify  God."  If, 
through  the  obstinacy  and  bhndness  of  unbelief,  this  result  should 
not  be  in  fact  produced,  they  may  at  least  "  stop  the  mouths  of 
gainsayers,"  and  "put  to  silence  the  ignorance  of  foolish  men." 

While  this  silent  testimony  of  a  blameless  life  is  by  far  the 
most  efficacious  form  of  witness-bearing  on  God's  behalf,  it  is 
not  the  only  method. 

A  holy  life  will  secure  attention  and  credit  for  any  verbal  tes- 
timony we  may  have  opportunity  and  strength  to  utter.  The 
19 


218  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

power  of  words  depends  largely  on  the  known  cliaractcr  of  the 
man  who  speaks  them.  An  unchristian  life  neutralizes  com- 
pletely the  most  pious  exhortations.  But  "how  forcible  are 
right  words"  when  "spoken  in  season,"  and  proceeding  from 
one  whose  character  and  life  assure  you  that  they  come  forth 
from  the  heart,  and  are  uttered  in  deep  sincerity. 

Live  so,  that  you  may  be  able  consistently,  and  without  a 
blush,  to  speak  for  God :  and  when  occasion  offers  open  your 
lips,  and  "  declare  what  the  Lord  hath  done  for  your  soul." 

Be  not  ' '  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. "  Be  a  firm  and 
fearless  witness  for  him  who  loved  you  and  gave  himself  for  you, 
and  he  may  put  on  you  the  honour  of  "converting  "  sinners  from 
"the  error  of  their  ways,  and  of  saving  souls  from  death."  And 
if  you  bear  witness  to  him  in  a  world  where  his  name  is  dishonoured 
and  despised,  he  will  bear  witness  to  you  in  the  presence  of  his  Fa- 
ther and  the  holy  angels.  The  martyrs  were  so  named  because 
they  were  witnesses  for  Christ.  A  multitude  of  them  which  no 
man  can  number,  have  gone  up  in  chariots  of  fire  to  the  throne 
of  Grod.  Follow  them.  "  Seeing  you  are  compassed  about  with 
so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  lay  aside  every  weight,  and  the  sin 
which  doth  so  easily  beset  you,  and  run  with  patience  the  race 
that  is  set  before  you,  looking  unto  Jesus  the  author  and 
finisher  of  our  faith."  Above  all,  look  up  to  him  who  "wit- 
nessed a  good  profession  before  many  witnesses,"  and  now  from 
his  glorious  seat,  cries  down  to  you,  "Be  thou  faithful  unto 
death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life."  "  Ye  are  my  wit- 
nesses, saith  the  Lord,  and  my  servant  whom  I  have  chosen : 
that  ye  may  know  and  believe  me,  and  understand  that  I  am  he  : 
before  me  there  was  no  God  formed,  neither  shall  there  be  after 
me.  I,  even  I,  am  the  Lord ;  and  beside  me  there  is  no  Sa- 
viour.    I  have  declared,  and  have  saved,  and  I  have  shewed, 


XIII.]  god's  witnesses.  219 

when  there  was  no  strange  god  among  you :  therefore  ye  are 
my  witnesses,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  am  God." 

What  testimony,  my  brethren,  shall  I  bear  on  your  behalf,  to 
these  our  friends  who  are  yet  strangers  to  the  grace  of  God? 
May  I  tell  them  from  j^ou,  as  well  as  from  God,  that  there  is 
salvation  in  Christ  for  perishing  sinners  ?  With  your  consent, 
then,  I  give  this  testimony,  and  say  to  them,  ' '  We  have  found 
the  Messias. "  "  That  which  we  have  seen  and  heard  declare 
we  unto  you,  that  ye  also  may  have  fellowship  with  us :  and 
truly  our  fellowship  is  with  the  Father,  and  with  his  Son  Jesus 
Christ." 

We  testify  unto  you  that  God  hears  prayer,  that  he  pardons 
sin,  that  he  imparts  a  peace  which  passeth  all  understanding, 
and  inspires  the  hope  of  everlasting  life.  "We  are  journeying 
unto  the  place  of  which  the  Lord  said,  I  will  give  it  to  you : 
come  thou  with  us,  and  we  will  do  thee  good :  for  the  Lord  hath 
spoken  good  concerning  Israel."  Will  you  receive  our  witness? 
If  not,  will  you  believe  the  eternal  God  under  oath  ?  Hearken 
to  his  testimony:  "As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  God,  I  have  no 
pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked ;  but  that  the  wicked  turn 
from  his  way  and  live  :  turn  ye,  turn  ye  from  your  evil  ways  ; 
for  why  will  ye  die,  0  house  of  Israel?" 


220  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 


SERMON  XIV. 

INCREASE  OUR  FAITH. 

Luke  xvii.  5. — And  the  apostles  said  unto  the  Lord,  Increase 
our  faith. 

This  prayer  of  the  apostles  for  an  increase  of  faitli,  stands  in 
immediate  connexion  with  a  lesson  which  the  Saviour  had  ad- 
dressed to  them,  on  the  duty  of  forgiving  injuries.  It  would 
seem  as  if  his  doctrine  on  this  subject  had  made  a  deep  impres- 
sion, and  that  the  idea  of  forgiving  those  who  trespass  against 
us,  indefinitely  and  without  end,  was  quite  in  advance  of  their 
present  attainments.  Without,  however,  questioning  the  obli- 
gation of  the  duty,  they  confess  their  insufficiency  for  its  per- 
formance. It  required  more  grace  than  they  yet  possessed,  to 
forgive  an  offender  seven  times  in  a  day.  It  needed  faith  to  do 
what  they  had  already  done,  in  leaving  all  to  follow  Christ,  but 
here  is  something  more  difficult.  To  our  unholy  natures  revenge 
is  sweet,  and  when  prudence  or  principle  restrains  us  from  in- 
flicting evil  on  those  who  injure  us,  the  temptation  is  strong,  to 
cherish  in  the  heart  feelings  of  resentment,  and,  at  least  to  pun- 
ish men  with  our  indignation  and  contempt. 

The  natural  man  yields  to  this  temptation,  and  it  is  one  of  the 
noblest  triumphs  of  grace  in  a  regenerate  soul,  to  forgive  men  their 


XIV.]  INCREASE  OUR  FAITH.  221 

trespasses  even  as  we  hope  for  and  need  tlic  forgiveness  of  God. 
If  the  divine  life  within  us  is  feeble  and  languid,  we  shall  be  in 
the  same  measure,  vindictive  and  unforgiving,  and  any  who  will 
hot  from  his  heart  forgive  an  offending  fellow-mortal  proves 
himself  to  be  under  the  condemnation  of  God.  And  while  this 
request  of  the  apostles  confesses  their  un preparedness  for  so  ar- 
duous a  duty,  it  shows  a  just  appreciation  of  the  true  source  of 
a  Christian's  strength. 

Persons  less  instructed  in  the  nature  of  experimental  and  prac- 
tical religion,  and  looking  superficially  at  the  subject,  might 
have  prayed  for  an  increase  of  meekness,  or  patience,  or  hu- 
militj^,  that  when  offences  came,  they  might  be  met  with  a  calm 
and  unrufiled  temper.  These  are  excellent  graces,  of  which  we 
have  immediate  need  when  exposed  to  provocation  or  injury ; 
but  they  are  dependent  upon  and  nurtured  by  a  more  radical 
principle  of  the  Christian  character. 

Faith  underlies,  precedes,  produces  them.  Praying  for  the 
increase  of  faith,  is  in  effect  to  pray  for  their  increase ;  and  thus 
tends  to  keep  down  unholy  resentments.  And  more  than  this, 
faith  itself  operates  directly  and  powerfully  on  the  duty  and  act 
of  forgiving  injuries.  In  fact,  there  is  nothing  but  faith  in  God 
as  the  Judge  of  men,  at  whose  bar  we  all  must  stand,  and  on 
whose  pardoning  mercy  we  depend  for  salvation,  that  can  sub- 
due the  vindictive  spirit  which  delights  to  do  to  others  as  they 
have  done  to  us.  Forgive  one  another,  as  God  for  Christ's  sake 
hath  forgiven  you :  this  is  the  irresistible  argument,  and  it  is 
faith  alone  that  brings  it  down  and  makes  it  influential  as  a  mo- 
tive amidst  the  temptations  and  duties  of  every-day  life.  The 
light  which  the  connexion  thus  throws  upon  the  text,  is  that  an 
increase  of  faith  is  the  grand  preparation  for  performing  the 
most  difficult  duties,  and  meeting  successfully  the  trials  to  which 


19 


222  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

we  are  all  exposed.  The  subject  is  in  tlie  highest  degree  prac- 
tical, and  of  universal  application.  Let  us  give  it  earnest  heed. 
It  is  the  increase  of  faith :  and  nothing  would  just  now  be  more 
in  place,  than  for  us  to  breathe  the  prayer  of  the  apostles : 
"Lord,  increase  our  faith : "  and  inasmuch  as  faith  cometh  by 
hearing,  let  us  meditate  devoutly  on  what  the  Scriptures  teach 
concerning  this  important  subject. 

That  for  the  increase  of  which  we  pray  is  faith :  and  it  is 
natural,  and  not  unnecessary  to  begin  with  some  consideration 

of  ITS  NATURE. 

How  often  the  word  occurs  in  Scripture,  and  how  large  a  place 
is  held,  and  how  vital  an  office  is  performed  by  faith  in  the  sal- 
vation of  the  soul,  you  need  not  be  informed. 

In  a  sense  not  true  of  any  other  act  of  the  soul,  or  of  any  other 
grace  of  the  Spirit,  we  are  saved  by  faith.  We  are  justified  by 
faith ;  we  stand  by  faith ;  we  walk  by  faith :  and  the  life  we  now 
live  in  the  flesh,  we  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God.  So 
radical  is  it  in  religious  character,  and  so  pervading  in  the  acts 
and  life  of  the  Christian,  that  he  is  named  therefrom  a  believer. 
What,  then,  is  faith?  In  one  aspect  it  is  very  simple.  As  an 
exercise  of  the  soul,  it  is  only  to  believe :  and  there  is  nothing 
more  mysterious  in  the  faith  which  saves  us,  than  in  the  belief 
and  trust  we  repose  in  men  in  the  social  and  commercial  inter- 
course of  life.  If  it  be  considered  with  respect  to  the  objects  on 
which  it  rests,  and  the  fruits  which  it  yields,  and  the  circum- 
stances under  which  it  is  exercised,  it  presents  an  almost  endless 
variety  of  phases,  and  is  linked  with  every  doctrine  of  the  gos- 
pel, every  form  of  Christian  experience,  and  every  condition  of 
life.  A  careful  study  of  the  Scriptures  will  bring  us,  I  think, 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  two  great  characteristics  of  Christian 
and  saving  faith  regard  the  grounds  on  which  it  rests,  and  the 


XIV.]  INCREASE  OUR  FAITH.  223 

objects  at  which  it  looks.  It  is  unlike  all  merely  human  faith, 
in  that  it  rests  on  the  authority  of  Grod,  testifying  to  men  in  the 
Scriptures  in  reference  to  what  they  could  not  otherwise  know. 

This  appears  to  be  the  sense  of  the  apostle  where  he  says — 
"  we  walk  by  faith,  not  by  sight,"  and  in  that  other  and  notable 
text  which  defines  faith  as  being  "the  substance  of  things  hoped 
for,  and  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen."  These  passages  as- 
sert what  the  religious  history  of  men  demonstrates,  that  certain 
and  accurate  knowledge  of  the  spiritual  and  eternal  world  is  ob- 
tained only  by  revelation  from  Grod.  Neither  sense  nor  reason 
can  pierce  the  veil  that  hides  the  awful  and  grand  realities  which 
are  about  and  beyond  us ;  the  wisest  and  purest  of  the  ancient 
sages  attained  to  nothing  better  than  plausible  conjectures  and 
uncertain  hopes.  The  "hidden  wisdom  which  none  of  the 
princes  of  this  world  knew,"  is  made  known  in  Scripture :  "as 
it  is  written.  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have 
entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things  which  Grod  hath  pre- 
pared for  them  that  love  him :  but  Grod  hath  revealed  them  unto 
us  by  his  Spirit. ' '  Faith  is  the  firm  belief  of  these  Divine  reve- 
lations :  it  rests  on  the  testimony  of  Grod ;  it  believes  the  Scrip- 
tures "  for  the  authority  of  God  speaking  therein,"  and  is  thus 
a  supernatural  and  divine  principle,  believing  on  the  ground  of 
God's  veracity,  and  is  wi'ought  in  the  soul  by  his  power.  It 
does  not,  therefore,  "stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the 
power  of  God,"  who  first  reveals  the  truth  in  the  Scriptures, 
and  then  discloses  it  to  the  heart  by  the  inward  teaching  of  his 
Spirit.  This,  then,  is  the  first  element  of  faith :  it  receives  and 
relies  on  Divine  testimony  in  regard  to  things  otherwise  unknown 
and  unknowable.  Its  second  great  characteristic  regards  the 
objects  to  which  it  looks.  The  testimony  of  God  reveals  truths, 
and  discovers  objects :  and  faith  embraces  the  truth,  and  looks 


224  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

at  tlie  tilings  whicli  this  testimony  discovers.  An  illustration 
from  nature  may  render  this  distinction  clear.  The  spiritual 
world,  the  Scriptures,  and  faith,  have  their  several  types  in  the 
material  universe,  the  Hght  of  the  sun,  and  the  human  eye. 

The  earth,  without  the  light  of  the  sun,  is  wrapt  in  darkness ; 
and  when  the  light  shines,  there  is  no  perception  of  the  form 
and  beauty  of  the  world  without  the  eye;  as,  "in  the  begin- 
ning," God  first  made  the  earth,  then  the  light,  and,  last  of  all, 
brought  man  upon  the  scene  to  behold  and  admire  his  workmaur 
ship.  Thus,  also,  in  things  divine  and  supernatural.  There  is 
the  spiritual  world,  but  hidden  from  mortal  sight  till  God  pours 
upon  it  the  light  of  revelation  ;  and  even  after  this  is  done,  there 
is  no  discernment  of  the  grand  and  glorious  objects  with  which 
it  is  filled,  till  the  eyes  of  the  understanding  are  opened,  and 
the  new  organ  of  faith  is  exercised. 

The  efiect  of  this  on  the  soul  resembles  that  of  the  sun  on  our 
bodily  senses  and  actions.  It  imparts  knowledge,  awakens  feel- 
ing, ' '  and  determines  conduct.  Opening  our  eyes  upon  the  natu- 
ral world,  we  see  in  one  direction  a  beautiful  landscape,  to  be 
admired  ;  in  another,  a  frightful  danger  to  be  avoided ;  here  a 
ti-easure  to  be  secured,  there  a  labour  to  be  performed,  and  in 
yet  another  direction,  a  path  to  be  trodden.  So,  when  a  man  is 
translated  from  the  darkness  of  unbelief  into  the  marvellous 
light  of  faith  in  the  revelations  of  the  gospel,  "  old  things  pass 
away,"  like  shadows  of  the  night  and  chimeras  of  a  disordered 
fancy,  and  all  things  become  new.  New  ideas,  new  emotions, 
new  pleasures,  "  newness  of  life,"  and  a  "  new  creature,"  is  the 
certain  and  happy  result.  Every  truth  of  the  gospel  and  all  the 
things  of  the  spiritual  world,  are  included  in  the  object  of  faith, 
and  just  so  far  as  they  are  known  and  present  to  the  view  of  the 
mind,  they  produce  an  effect  suitable  to  their  nature. 


XIV.]  INCREASE  OUR  FAITH.  225 

Faith  in  the  promises  of  Grod  imparts  peace  and  joy ;  faith  in 
his  threatenings,  awakens  godly  fear ;  faith  in  the  doctrine  of 
immortaHty  and  the  retributions  of  a  future  state,  moves  us  to 
earnest  preparation  for  death  and  eternity ;  and  our  daily  life  is 
governed  by  the  "powers  of  the  world  to  come."  If  we  believe 
in  Grod  ;  even  that  he  is,  and  that  he  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that 
seek  him ;  if  we  believe  in  the  attributes  of  his  glorious  nature ; 
in  the  strictness  of  his  law,  the  power  of  his  providence,  the 
freeness  of  his  gospel,  and  the  infinite  love  he  reveals  and  exer- 
cises towards  men ;  through  the  mediation  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ ;  it  is  evident  that  a  faith  like  this  must  penetrate  our 
inmost  being,  must  rule  in  the  heart,  must  mould  the  character, 
must  shape  the  life  ;  that  it  must  stir  profounder  emotions  and 
maintain  a  grasp  on  the  soul  as  much  more  firm  than  anj^thing 
else,  as  its'  objects  are  more  glorious,  great,  and  enduring  than 
all  the  things  which  address  themselves  to  reason  and  sense. 

Thus  we  see  the  nature  and  power  of  faith.  It  is  the  soul's 
living  contact  with  and  sensibility  to  the  truths  and  facts  of  re- 
velation. Its  every  single  act  is,  as  it  were,  a  glance  of  the  eye 
at  these  impressive  and  solemn  verities ;  and  as  it  grows  in 
strength  and  steadiness,  it  becomes  the  habit  of  "  looking  not  at 
the  things  which  are  seen  and  are  temporal,  but  at  those  which 
are  unseen  and  are  eternal."  Such,  in  its  nature,  is  that  "  pre- 
cious faith"  which  all  the  children  of  Grod  have  "obtained:" 
but  while,  in  its  nature,  it  is  ahke  in  all  the  disciples  of  Christ, 
it  difi*ers  greatly  in  its  degree,  and  is  susceptible  of  increase ; 
and  this  brings  us  more  exactly  to  the  point  of  our  text,  and  the 
subject  of  our  discourse  :  the  increase  of  faith.  It  may  be  very 
weak  even  where  it  is  true  and  saving :  and  there  are  times  in 
the  experience  of  strong  believers,  when  their  faith  is  feeble,  and 
they  greatly  feel  the  need  of  its  increase. 


226  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

In  common,  Peter  was  not  specially  deficient  in  this  vital  prin- 
ciple of  the  Christian  character,  but  when  walking  on  the 
water  to  go  to  Jesus,  he  saw  the  wind  boisterous,  and  was  afraid, 
he  began  to  sink,  and  received  along  with  the  timely  succour  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  gentle  rebuke, — "  0  thou  of  little  faith,  where- 
fore didst  thou  doubt?"  And  in  that  night  of  preternatural 
darkness  and  temptation  when  Satan  desired  to  have  him  that 
he  might  sift  him  as  wheat,  though  his  gracious  Lord  prayed 
for  him  that  his  faith  might  not  fail,  it  is  certain  that  little  more 
than  the  slenderest  thread  could  have  remained  to  unite  him  to 
the  Saviour  whom  he  denied.  Thomas,  more  than  the  rest,  it 
would  seem,  was  staggered  by  the  death  of  his  Divine  Master, 
and  was  so  fixed  in  unbelief  as  to  discredit  the  testimony  of 
those  who  had  seen  their  risen  Lord,  and  was  only  recovered  when 
the  evidence  which  he  had  unreasonably  required,  was  granted : 
but  along  with  the  condescending  grace  of  Jesus,  there  was  given 
a  pointed  rebuke — "Be  not  faithless,  but  believing." 

These  diversities  which  appeared  among  the  immediate  disci- 
ples of  Christ  are  found  among  all  Christians.  In  some  of 
them,  faith  is  very  weak ;  in  others,  strong ;  in  all  it  is  capable 
of  increase.  It  may  increase — it  ought  to  increase.  We  are  as 
much  commanded  to  believe  with  a  strong  faith  as  we  are  to  be- 
lieve at  all.  The  warrant  for  faith  is  the  veracity  of  God,  and 
if  he  who  believeth  not  God,  hath  made  him  a  liar,  and  is  guilty 
of  a  heinous  crime,  is  there  not  an  element  of  this  sin,  in  the 
weakness  of  our  faith,  which  begets  doubts  whether  God  will  do 
as  he  has  said,  and  which  fears  that  he  may  not  ?  Our  reason 
for  believing  in  God  and  his  revelations  at  all,  is  a  reason  for  the 
most  absolute  and  unquestioning  faith.  And  while  the  ground 
of  fiiith — which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the  Divine  testimony — not 
only  warrants,  but  requires  perfect  and  implicit  confidence,  and 


XIV.]  INCREASE  OUR  FAITH.  227 

brings  guilt  not  only  on  those  who  have  no  faith  at  all,  but  on 
those  whose  faith  is  weak ;  the  same  thing  appears  from  con- 
sidering the  immediate  and  actual  causes  of  this  weakness  of 
faith.  One  of  them  is  ignorance  of,  and  inattention  to  the  word 
of  Grod.  The  Scriptures  are  God's  testimony:  and  how  can  we 
believe,  any  farther  than  we  know  and  consider  it?  It  is  the 
word  of  God  which  begets,  and  supports,  and  nourishes  faith : 
and  in  order  to  this,  it  must  be  devoutly  read  and  listened  to. 
Neglect  of  the  Scriptures  and  ignorance  of  their  contents  are  the 
food  of  unbelief;  and  a  man  who  is  mighty  in  the  Scriptures  is 
certain  to  be  "strong  in  faith."  The  doubt  and  distress  into 
which  the  disciples  were  thrown  by  the  crucifixion  of  Christ, 
was  the  direct  and  obvious  result  of  unacquaintance  with  the 
word  of  God.  They  trusted  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  till  he 
was  put  to  death ;  and  when  that  happened,  they  knew  not 
what  to  think ;  whereas,  if  they  had  known  the  Scriptures  and 
the  power  of  God,  they  would  have  seen  in  his  death  the  fulfil- 
ment of  prophecj^,  and  so  would  have  found  a  fresh  support  of 
their  faith.  Their  ignorance  was  culpable,  and  of  course  the 
unbelief  which  sprang  from  it  was  equally  so :  and  while  the 
risen  Redeemer  condescended  to  remove  it,  he  pointed  out  and 
rebuked  its  guilty  cause: — "  0  fools,  and  slow  of  heart  to  be- 
lieve all  that  the  prophets  have  spoken — and  beginning  at 
Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  he  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the 
Scriptures  the  things  concerning  himself" — and  while  he  spake, 
their  hearts  burned  within  them,  their  eyes  were  opened  to  know 
him,  and  faith  grew  up  to  a  strength  and  stature  which  it  had 
never  reached  before.  If  the  unbelief  wl^ch  rejects  Christ  and 
salvation  is  condemned  and  punished  as  an  aggravated  sin,  cer- 
tainly the  unbelief  which  lingers  in  the  heart  of  a  believer, 
and  which  might  be  expelled  by  a  better  knowledge  and  a  more 


228  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

devout  study  of  the  Scriptures,  is  not  innocent.  It  dishonours 
God,  and  paralyzes  our  own  strength.  Another  and  special  im- 
pediment to  faith,  is  the  want  of  a  good  conscience.  The  apos- 
tle exhorts  to  "hold  the  mystery  of  the  faith  in  a  pure  con- 
science :"  in  nothing  else  can  it  be  held.  Gruilt  is  the  natural 
extinguisher  of  faith,  as  much  so  as  water  is  of  fire.  A  guilty 
conscience — a  conscience  which  is  ever  unquiet  by  reason  of  ne- 
glected duties  and  doubtful  practices — is  wholly  incompatible 
with  "confidence  toward  God,"  and  "boldness"  at  the  throne 
of  grace.  Destroying  faith,  it  quenches  the  spirit  of  prayer, 
and  renders  impossible  that  pleading  earnestness  which  prevails 
with  God.  Careless,  unstable,  unreliable,  worldly-minded  Chris- 
tians have  little  faith.  Their  inconsistent  life  is  at  once  the  evi- 
dence of  its  weakness,  and  the  cause  of  its  continually  becoming 
more  so.  For  these  and  like  reasons,  we  must  proceed  on  the 
assumption  that  the  weakness  of  faith  is  a  fault  to  be  repented 
of,  not  less  than  a  want  to  be  supplied.  The  prayer  for  more,  is 
a  virtual  confession  of  our  sin  in  having  so  little ;  nevertheless, 
it  is  a  hopeful  symptom.  Is  it  the  desire  of  our  hearts?  Is  it 
your  prayer  to  God,  now  and  always — "Increase  my  faith?" 
If  so,  the  methods  and  means  of  its  increase  will  be  of  interest. 
On  this  point,  we  shall  attempt  but  a  few  brief  suggestions.  In 
the  text,  the  apostles  asked  of  the  Saviour,  as  a  direct  bestow- 
ment,  that  he  would  increase  their  faith ;  and  this  suggests  that 
prayer  is  a  means  of  increasing  faith.  It  possesses,  indeed,  an 
admirable  adaptation  to  this  end.  Faith  is  the  gift  of  God,  and 
therefore  it  is  to  be  sought  in  prayer,  as  are  all  other  divine 
blessings.  If  we  have  a  little  faith,  and  pray  for  more,  God 
will  give  it  to  us  by  the  inspirations  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  helping 
our  unbelief,  and  increasing  our  faith :  while  prayer  thus  obtains 
faith  as  a  divine  gift,  and  so  adds  to  its  strength,  it  exercises  it 


XIV.]  INCREASE  OUR  FAITH.  229 

as  a  grace,  and  according  to  a  law  of  both  natural  and  spirituul 
life,  increases  its  vigour  and  activity.  Praj^er  to  tlie  invisible 
Grod,  in  tbe  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  for  spiritual  and 
eternal  mercies,  is  purely  an  act  of  faith.  Prayer  is  faith  in  ex- 
ercise. If  not  identical,  they  are  intimately  related.  They  act 
and  react  on  one  another  continually.  Faith  prompts  to  prayer, 
and  prayer  increases  faith.  It  does  so  both  in  the  nature  of  the 
act,  and  in  the  method  of  its  answer.  If  the  answer  came  al- 
ways in  the  moment  of  asking,  faith  would  not  be  nourished  so 
much  as  sense  would  be  indulged.  The  Syro-Phenician  mother 
had  strong  faith  when  she  began  to  cry  to  Jesus  in  behalf  of  her 
daughter;  but  when,  after  repeated  and  distressing  repulses, 
she  pressed  her  suit  jind  triumphed,  her  faith  mightily  increased, 
and  would  have  removed  mountains ;  and  from  the  lips  of  the 
Son  of  Grod,  she  received  the  precious  commendation  and  as- 
surance— "0  woman,  great  is  thy  faith!" 

The  Christian  who  thus  cries  to  God  in  his  closet,  and  kneels 
with  his  family  at  the  mercy-seat,  and  forsakes  not  the  place 
where  social  prayer  is  wont  to  be  made — will  experience  a  steady 
increase  of  his  faith.  It  grows  by  its  exercise  in  prayer,  by  the 
grace  which  God  gives  in  answer  to  prayer,  by  the  very  method 
of  the  answer,  and  by  the  fact  of  getting  answer  at  all.  Every 
instance  of  answered  prayer  establishes  faith  in  Jehovah  as  a 
prayer-hearing  and  a  prayer-answering  God.  Another  means 
of  its  increase,  entirely  within  our  reach,  is  active  employment 
in  the  service  of  God.  If  you  wish  to  find  a  professor  of  re- 
ligion who  is  ' '  fearful  and  unbelieving, ' '  imagining  difiiculties 
and  dangers  in  every  direction ;  afraid  to  attempt  anything  for 
fear  it  will  fail,  and  living  without  the  joys  and  consolations  of 
religion,  go  to  one  who  does  the  least  service  in  the  church :  and 

who  habitually  shrinks  from  or  refuses  to  perform  a  large  part 
20 


230  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

of  Christian  duties.  Such  a  course  of  behaviour  violates  the 
fundamental  conditions  of  the  life  of  faith,  and  if  the  divine 
principle  be  in  him  at  all,  it  can  only  drag  out  a  sickly  exist- 
ence, with  fewer  and  fainter  pulsations.  The  law  of  its  life  and 
the  condition  of  its  increase  is  activity.  It  "worketh  by  love ;" 
and  this  its  native  tendency  must  be  complied  with,  in  order  to 
its  growth.  It  may  and  must  be  nurtured  by  the  word  of  God, 
and  by  the  influences  of  grace,  bestowed  in  answer  to  prayer, 
but  these  alone  do  not  bring  it  up  to  a  full  and  healthy  develop- 
ment.    It  needs  work. 

Faith  and  works,  though  theological  opposites  in  the  matter 
of  our  justification,  which  cannot  be  mingled,  are  friendly  allies 
and  energetic  co-labourers  in  our  sanctifioation.  In  Abraham, 
the  father  of  believers,  faith  wrought  with  his  works,  and  by 
works  was  faith  made  perfect :  its  genuineness  was  evinced  and 
its  strength  increased.  Every  act  of  sincere  obedience  to  God 
that  you  perform,  will  increase  your  faith,  and  especially  every 
act  of  self-denying  service  will  have  this  efi'ect.  Try  the  experi- 
ment, and  you  will  bear  witness  to  its  efiicacy. 

With  reference  to  the  means  and  methods  of  increasing  faith. 
I  only  add  further,  that  God  has  this  end  in  view  in  all  the  deal- 
ings of  his  providence.  It  is  of  the  very  essence  of  our  proba- 
tion, that  we  are  required  and  taught  to  live  by  faith:  and  the 
whole  scheme  of  providence  and  grace  is  adjusted  for  developing 
and  strengthening  this  habit  of  the  soul.  For  this  end  the  bless- 
ing on  our  labours  is  concealed  or  delayed ;  impediments  are  left 
or  even  placed  in  our  path  ;  the  providential  way  of  Jehovah  is 
through  the  sea  and  in  the  deep  waters  ;  and  the  unfolding  of 
his  mighty  plans  and  holy  purposes  is  so  slow  that  the  forward 
movement  in  the  life-time  of  a  generation  is  scarcely  perceptible 
to  those  who  stand  amid  the  world's  confusions. 


XIV.]  INCREASE  OUR  FAITH.  231 

Sense  and  reason  cannot  pierce  the  clouds  and  darkness  which 
surround  him,  and  we  are  "shut  up  to  the  faith,"  which  as- 
sures us  that  ' '  justice  and  judgment  are  the  habitation  of  his 
throne,"  and  whether  we  can  see  it  or  not,  "all  things  do  work 
together  for  good,  to  them  that  love  God ;"  and  for  the  further- 
ance of  that  kingdom  which  is  "righteousness  and  peace,  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  Thus,  when  sense  is  bhnd  and  reason 
baffled,  are  we  schooled  to  the  exercise  of  faith,  and  by  the  ex- 
ercise, faith  is  increased.  And  oftentimes,  the  purpose  designed 
by  the  Christian's  afflictions  is  not  so  much  the  punishment  of 
his  sins,  as  it  is  the  proof  of  his  faith.  Like  gold  from  the  fur- 
nace, it  emerges  from  the  fiery  trial,  approved,  purified,  per- 
fected, and  is  found  unto  praise,  and  honour,  and  glory,  at  the 
appearing  of  Jesus  Christ. 

By  such  methods  and  processes,  God  answers  our  prayer  for 
the  increase  of  faith,  and  in  so  doing  confers  upon  us  the  great- 
est blessing  we  can  receive  in  the  present  world. 

"Faith"  is  the  great  law,  condition,  and  characteristic  of 
our  life  on  earth,  as  "sight"  is  the  grand  peculiarity  and  excel- 
lence of  the  believer's  estate  in  heaven. 

Faith  is  the  radical  grace  and  principle  of  Christian  character; 
its  increase  is  the  virtual  increase  of  all  other  attributes  and 
principles.  It  works  by  love ;  it  begets  joy,  peace,  hope,  and 
all  the  beautiful  train  of  graces  which  adorn  the  character  and 
bless  the  soul.  It  is  the  root  from  which  they  grow,  and  as,  in 
material  husbandry  and  horticulture,  the  only  method  of  obtain- 
ing fruit  and  flowers  is  the  planting  of  seeds,  so,  in  this  garden 
of  the  Lord,  the  virtues  and  graces  which  beautify  the  character 
and  life  of  a  Christian  spring  up  from  the  germ  of  faith,  and 
most  abound  where  that  divine  principle  is  the  strongest.  In 
the  increase  of  faith,  sanctification,  in  all  its  elements  and  prin- 


232  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

ciples,  is  carried  forward.  Faith  "  purifies  the  heart."  It  is  a 
principle  of  antagonism  to  all  evil,  and  will  not  rest  till  every 
corruption  is  mortified  and  destroyed. 

It  is  indispensable  in  the  performance  of  our  duties.  If  we 
depend  on  mere  feelings  for  the  impulsive  power  which  shall 
urge  and  uphold  us  in  the  service  of  God,  feeling  may  fluctuate, 
joy  may  decline,  and  darkness  may  surround  us.  We  need,  to 
keep  us  firm,  and  patient,  and  faithful,  a  principle  which  never 
suspends  its  operation ;  which  grasps  the  changeless  and  glori- 
ous things  of  the  spiritual  world  and  the  eternal  future,  and 
brings  down  from  heaven  motives  and  powers,  when  all  within 
is  comfortless,  and  all  around  discouraging !  Faith  is  this  bond 
of  union  and  channel  of  communication  between  earth  and  heaven, 
between  the  soul  and  God. 

Whatever  of  motive  power  there  is  for  doing  and  enduring 
the  Divine  will,  in  the  thought  of  God's  all-seeing  eye,  in  the 
solemnities  of  the  judgment-bar,  in  the  hope  of  everlasting  life, 
and  in  the  danger  of  eternal  banishment  from  the  presence  of 
the  Lord,  and  the  glory  of  his  power, — all  this  is  by  faith  brought 
to  bear  as  an  incentive  to  fidelity  in  the  duties  of  our  earthly  lot: 
and  not  the  power  of  motives  only,  but  the  direct  power  of  al- 
mighty grace,  "helping  our  infirmities,"  feeding  our  hidden  life 
with  spiritual  supplies,  is  conveyed  by  faith  from  its  heavenly 
source.  Faith  is  union  with  God  in  Christ ;  the  fellowship  of 
human  weakness  with  Divine  strength.  Man's  impotence  ob- 
tains the  aid  of  God's  almightiness,  and  the  believer  is  able  to 
do  what  mere  mortal  power  could  never  achieve. 

Strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of  his  might,  the  Chris- 
tian performs  duties  which  are  painful  to  his  natural  sensibilities ; 
and  resists  temptations  before  which  others  fall.  With  "the 
shield  of  faith,"  he  quenches  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked. 


XIV.]  INCREASE  OUR  FAITH.  233 

and  when  the  world  and  all  its  attractions  are  offered  as  the  bribe 
of  his  fidelity  and  the  price  of  his  soul,  faith  looks  away  to  the 
crowns,  and  palms,  and  treasures  of  a  better  country,  and  spurns 
the  worthless  baubles  of  earth.  ' '  This  is  the  victory  that  over- 
cometh  the  world,  even  our  faith. ' ' 

Have  you  this  precious  faith,  my  brethren?  Bless  God  for 
its  bestowment,  and  pray  for  its  increase,  till  it  shall  hold  the 
undivided  ascendency  of  your  heart,  and  govern  your  life. 
"Walk  by  faith,"  and  you  will  walk  safely,  steadily,  joj^ully;* 
and  in  the  end  of  your  pilgrimage,  will  reach  the  glorious  ob- 
jects which  have  been  the  pole-star  of  your  earthly  wanderings. 
"For  now  we  see  through  a  glass,  darkly;  but  then  face  to  face: 
now  we  know  in  part ;  but  then  shall  we  know  even  as  also  we  are 
known. ' '  The  church  needs  the  increase  of  faith,  and  the  sinner 
needs  its  first  implantation. 

Ye  that  have  no  faith,  consider  that  your  want  of  it  is  sin. 
Your  unbelief  is  not  owing  to  any  intellectual  inability,  nor  to 
any  want  of  evidence.  It  is  due  to  the  indisposition  and  unwill- 
ingness of  the  heart.  "  He  that  believeth  not  God,  hath  made 
him  a  liar,  because  he  believeth  not  the  record  that  God  gave 
of  his  Son.  He  that  believeth  on  him,  is  not  condemned :  but 
he  that  believeth  not,  is  condemned  already,  because  he  hath 
not  believed  in  the  name  of  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God. 
Tliis  is  his  commandment :  That  we  should  believe  on  the  name 
of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  love  one  another,  as  he  gave  us 

commandment." 
20* 


234  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 


SERMON   XV. 

THE  SPIRIT  AN  UNCTION,  A  SEAL,  AND  AN  EAR- 
NEST. 

2  Cor.  i.  21,  22. — Now  he  which  hath  anointed  us  is  God, 
who  hath  also  sealed  2is,  and  given  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit  in  our 
hearts. 

Some  expositors  would  restrict  the  application  of  these  state- 
ments to  the  apostles  and  other  ministers  of  the  word,  who  were 
endowed  with  peculiar  gifts  and  graces  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

This  does  not,  however,  appear  to  be  required  by  the  context, 
and  has  nothing  to  support  it  in  the  general  teachings  of  Scrip- 
ture. In  the  confirmation  which  is  named  in  connexion  with 
the  particulars  here  recited,  the  apostle  expressly  joins  the  Co- 
rinthian Christians  with  himself,  as  the  subjects  of  it,  and  then 
proceeds,  without  any  change  of  construction,  to  say  that  the 
same  Grod  who  had  ' '  established' '  him  with  them  in  Christ,  had 
anointed,  and  sealed,  and  given  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit  in  their 
hearts.  And  while  the  structure  of  the  passage  favours,  and 
even  seems  to  demand  this  comprehension  of  all  believers,  the 
members,  not  less  than  the  ministry  of  the  church,  as  recipients 
of  the  grace  described,  our  minds  may  be  relieved  of  all  doubt, 
by  the  fact  that  every  one  of  these  forms  of  spiritual  influence 


XV.  ]    THE  SPIRIT  AN  UNCTION,  A  SEAL.  AND  AN  EARNEST.    235 

is  spoken  of  in  other  places,  and  some  of  them  very  often,  as 
Christian  characteristics  and  Christian  privileges — an  honour 
put  on  "  all  the  saints,"  a  blessing  bestowed  on  the  heirs  of  sal- 
vation. 

A  true  minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  while  he  firmly  maintains  the 
order  of  God's  house,  is  not  so  jealous  of  his  official  prerogatives 
as  to  envj'"  the  gifts  and  graces  of  the  laity,  or  to  grieve  over 
good  accomplished  by  other  than  apostolical  and  ministerial 
hands.  If  devils  are  cast  out  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  by  those 
who  follow  not  with  him,  or  are  not  invested  with  official  robes, 
he  will  say  with  the  Master — "Forbid  them  not,"  and  with 
Moses,  when  one  told  him  that,  contrary  to  usage  and  order, 
Eldad  and  Medad  were  prophesying  "in  the  camp,"  and  not 
with  the  rest  of  the  elders  "round  about  the  tabernacle" — "  En- 
viest  thou  for  my  sake?  Would  Grod  that  all  the  Lord's  people 
were  prophets,  and  that  the  Lord  would  put  his  Spirit  upon 
them!"  What  "Moses,  the  man  of  G-od,"  desired  for  the  Is- 
rael of  his  day,  is  the  devout  prayer  of  all  who  have  more  zeal 
for  the  glory  of  Christ  than  for  their  own  influence  and  distinc- 
tion. In  this  description  of  the  Christian's  character  and  rela- 
tion to  Grod,  there  is  a  harmonious  blending  of  dignity,  and 
duty,  and  privilege ;  and  the  unity  of  the  text  consists  in  the 
common  relation  which  all  these  particulars  sustain  to  God  as 
their  author,  to  the  Holy  Spirit  as  their  instrument,  and  to  the 
soul  of  the  believer  as  the  subject  in  which  they  meet  and  blend : 
and  the  topic  we  have  for  consideration  is  the  Holy  Ghost, 
viewed  in  the  threefold  relation  of  an  unction^  a  sea?,  and  an 
earnest.  "Now  he  which  hath  anointed  us  is  God,  who  hath 
also  sealed  us,  and  given  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit  in  our  hearts." 

I.  We  are,  in  the  first  place,  to  consider  Christians  as  the 
subjects  of  a  Divine  unctimi — as  God's  anointed  ones  ;  and  in 


236  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

the  outset,  let  me  warn  you  against  the  mistake  of  emptying 
this  language  of  its  high  and  precious  signifioance,  by  regarding 
it  as  a  figure  of  speech.  The  thing  declared  is  an  experimental 
fact,  and  a  Divine  reality — ^far  more  so  than  if,  as  in  former  ages, 
a  holy  ointment,  with  form  and  ceremony,  were  poured  upon  the 
head.  The  meaning  of  the  language,  however,  can  only  be  ob- 
tained by  reference  to  this  ancient  usage. 

The  call  and  investiture  of  prophets,  priests,  and  kings,  was 
accompanied  and  symbolized  by  anointing  them  with  oil.  Thus 
Samuel  anointed  Saul  and  afterwards,  the  son  of  Jesse,  to  be 
king  of  Israel.  In  the  ritual  of  the  Jews,  which  prescribed  the 
method  of  ordaining  Aaron  and  his  sons  to  the  priesthood,  we 
read  of  a  "holy  anointing  oil,"  compounded  with  rare  and 
costly  spices ;  which  was  poured  on  the  head  of  the  priests,  "  to 
sanctify"  them,  as  it  is  said.  The  meaning  of  the  ceremony 
was  obviously  that  of  consecration  to  a  particular  office  or  func- 
tion. It  carried  with  it  authority  and  obligation  to  serve  Grod, 
and  men  as  well,  in  a  manner  expressly  indicated.  Kings, 
priests,  and  prophets  thus  set  apart,  were  spoken  of  as  "the 
Lord's  anointed,"  and  on  this  account  were  treated  with  respect 
and  veneration.  In  Jesus  Christ,  all  the  prophetic,  regal,  and 
priestly  functions,  which  before  had  been  divided  amongst  dif- 
ferent persons,  were  united,  and  he,  above  all  the  sons  of  men, 
is  the  Lord's  Anointed.  Most  of  you,  perhaps,  well  know  that 
his  name  of  Christ  means  one  that  is  anointed.  The  Hebrew 
Messiah  of  the  Old  Testament,  is  the  Grreek  Christ  of  the 
New ;  and  the  title  is  suggestive  of  the  consecration  he  received 
to  the  mighty  work  of  human  salvation,  in  the  triple  character 
of  prophet,  priest,  and  king.  A  priest  on  his  throne  "after 
the  order  of  Melchisedek. "  He  received  his  ordination  imme- 
diately from  the  hands  of  God,  and  was  "anointed  with  the 


XV.]   THE  SPIRIT  AN  UNCTION,  A  SEAL,  AND  AN  EARNEST.      237 

oil  of  gladness  above  his  fellows,"  when  the  Holy  Ghost  without 
measui-e  was  poured  upon  him. 

The  oil  of  Aaron's  consecration  was  but  the  symbol  of  an 
inward  and  effectual  unction  of  God's  Spirit,  which  both 
authorized  and  qualified  Jesus,  ' '  to  preach  good  tidings  unto 
the  meek." 

Descending  and  remaining  upon  him,  it  prepared  him  for  the 
ministry  of  labour  and  sufi"ering  to  which  he  was  appointed,  and 
thus  fulfilled  the  prophecy,  that  "the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  should 
rest  upon  him,  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding,  the 
Spirit  of  counsel  and  might,  the  Spirit  of  knowledge  and  of  the 
fear  of  the  Lord. ' '  After  he  had  run  his  earthly  course  and 
returned  to  his  glory,  the  author  of  the  book  of  Acts  records  it 
as  a  matter  of  simple  history,  that  "  God"  had  "anointed  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  with  the  Holy  Ghost."  In  the  light  of  these  re- 
marks, we  may  see  the  nature  of  that  anointing  which  the 
apostle  attributes  to  believers. 

As  from  Christ,  they  have  their  new  life  and  new  character, 
so  from  him  they  have  their  "new  name"  of  Christians,  or, 
Anointed  ones.  And  their  anointing,  like  that  of  the  apostle 
and  high  priest  of  their  profession,  is  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

That  they  have  the  Spirit  is  a  truth  which  shines  throughout 
the  Scriptures.  He  dwells  in  them,  consecrating  their  bodies 
and  souls  as  the  living  temple  of  his  perpetual  residence ;  but 
the  peculiar  truth  which  is  here  announced  is,  that  they  have 
the  Spirit  in  the  nature  of  an  "unction,"  calling  them  to  a 
special  work  and  a  holy  vocation;  separating  them  from  the 
outlying  and  common  world  of  mankind,  and  appointing  them 
to  stand,  like  Lsrael  of  old,  in  a  sacred  relation  to  God — a 
"  peculiar  people,  a  kingdom  of  priests."  In  our  lowly  sphere, 
and  at  an  infinite  remove  from  the  glorious  Head  from  whom  we 


238  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

have  our  spiritual  nature,  name,  and  mission,  it  is  nevertheless 
true,  that  Christians  are  actually  and  visibly  conformed  to  the 
image  of  Him  who  is  the  first-born  among  them  all,  and  in  a 
modified  sense,  perform  the  same  functions  and  do  the  same 
works.  Like  him  they  execute  the  office  of  a  prophet,  de- 
claring to  men  the  will  of  God  for  their  salvation. 

If  he  proclaims  himself  "  the  Hght  of  the  world"  did  he  not 
say  to  them,  "Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world?" — "As  the  Father 
hath  sent  me  into  the  world,  so  send  I  you."  If  in  his  priestly 
character,  he  draws  nigh  to  Grod,  and  ofi"ers  before  the  throne  his 
intercessions  for  men,  and  by  the  merit  of  his  sacrifice,  secures 
the  acceptance  of  their  services  and  persons,  are  they  not  also 
intercessors ;  "a  holy  priesthood  to  off"er  up  spiritual  sacrifices, 
acceptable  to  Grod?"  Paul,  on  the  ground  of  his  agency  in  the 
conversion  of  the  Gentiles,  represents  himself  as  performing  a 
priestly  service  in  presenting  them  as  an  off"ering  to  God.  And 
if  it  be  difficult  in  the  present  condition  and  character  of  Chris- 
tians to  see  the  evidences  and  attributes  of  kingly  dignity  and 
power,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  believer's  "glory,"  like 
that  of  Jesus,  is  to  be  enjoyed  in  heaven  and  not  on  earth.  It 
is  the  subject  of  a  promise  and  the  object  of  hope,  waited  for 
with  ' '  earnest  expectation. ' '  For  the  present,  we  have  a  more 
direct  and  practical  concern  with  the  prophetic  office  of  teaching 
and  the  priestly  duty  of  praying  for  men,  and  this,  we  take  to 
be  the  essential  idea  and  main  purpose  of  that  anointing  which 
God  bestows  on  all  his  people.  It  separates  them  to  his  service 
in  all  the  sacred  duties  of  religion,  and  in  all  those  good  works 
and  holy  charities  which  tend  to  the  salvation  of  souls  and  the 
improvement  of  the  world.  If  the  hands  of  some  man  of  God, 
like  Moses,  had  been  laid  upon  you,  as  they  were  on  Joshua ;  or 
if  a  Divine  voice  like  that  which  startled  the  child  Samuel  on 


XV.  J   THE  SPIRIT  AN  UNCTION,  A  SEAL,  AND  AN  EARNEST.      239 

his  bed,  had  fallen  on  your  ear  ;  or,  if  the  Son  of  God,  revealed 
in  dazzling  brightness,  had  appeared  to  you,  as  he  did  to  Saul 
of  Tarsus,  your  call  to  a  special  service  would  have  been  no 
more  distinct,  nor  would  have  carried  with  it  any  higher  au- 
thority than  that  which  came  to  you  in  "the  still  small  voice," 
with  the  soft  breathing,  and  effective  anointing  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  when  he  opened  your  eyes  to  see,  and  your  ears  to  hear, 
and  your  heart  to  embrace  ' '  the  glorious  gospel  of  the  blessed 
God."  In  every  form  of  external  call  and  ordination,  by  which 
men  are  set  apart  to  the  special  service  of  God,  there  is  the 
possibility  of  mistake ;  and,  in  point  of  fact,  many  receive  the 
imposition  of  human  hands,  who  bear  no  credentials  from 
Heaven.  The  unction  of  the  Spirit  has  this  grand  peculiarity, 
that  it  qualifies  as  well  as  authorizes  those  who  receive  it,  to 
serve  God  as  prophets  and  priests  in  his  holy  and  gracious  king- 
dom. It  enlightens,  and  sanctifies,  and  strengthens,  and  im- 
parts courage,  and  endows  even  babes  in  Christ  with  a  deeper 
discernment  than  "the  wise  and  prudent"  "disputers  of  this 
world' '  possess.  The  apostle  John  ascribes  it  to  those  whom  he 
calls,  "little  children,"  and  speaks  in  most  emphatic  terms  of 
its  effect  on  the  mind  and  heart.  If  others  apostatized,  and 
were  led  away  with  the  error  of  the  wicked,  he  was  sure  they 
would  not,  "for,"  said  he,  "ye  have  an  unction  from  the  Holy 
One,  alid  ye  knoAV  all  things,"  and  "the  anointing  which  ye 
have  received  of  him  abideth  in  you,  and  ye  need  not  that  any 
man  teach  you ;  but  as  the  same  anointing  teacheth  you  of  all 
things,  and  is  truth,  and  is  no  lie,  and  even  as  it  hath  taught 
you,  ye  shall  abide  in  him. ' '  As  with  respect  to  worldly  voca- 
tions, the  question  whether  an  individual  has  a  call  to  pursue 
any  particular  trade,  or  business,  or  profession,  is  determined 
mainly  by  his  aptitude,  his  genius,  or  his  taste  for  it.     So  in  the 


240  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

department  of  those  liigli  spiritual  relations  and  duties  to  which 
the  followers  of  Christ  are  called.  The  nature  of  the  qualifica- 
tion imparted,  indicates  that  of  the  service  to  which  they  are 
appointed.  With  eyes  enlightened  to  see  the  glory  of  Christ, 
and  with  hearts  renewed  after  his  likeness,  and  filled  with  the 
sweet  sense  of  his  love  and  the  joy  of  his  salvation,  their  mis- 
sion to  be  the  instrumental  saviours  of  those  who  are  yet  in  sin, 
is  written  in  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  their  own  souls,  and  is 
sure  to  be  sought  and  found  by  those  who  feel  the  power  of  this 
most  blessed  unction.  And  this  suggests,  that  the  manner  of 
life  we  lead,  and  the  place  which  the  salvation  of  men  and  the 
honour  of  Christ's  kingdom  hold  in  our  thoughts  and  labours,  is 
the  criterion  by  which  the  question  of  our  ever  having  received 
the  anointing  of  the  Spirit,  is  to  be  decided.  If  We  allow  the 
Spirit  to  lead  us  in  paths  of  righteousness,  and  of  holy  benevo- 
lence, and  of  self-denying  labours,  we  have  the  highest  evidence 
possible,  of  that  "  holy  calling,"  which,  coming  from  God,  leads 
to  Grod,  and  is  unto  salvation.  If  we  "walk  after  the  flesh," 
and  love  the  world,  and  are  profoundly  indiff"erent  to  the  con- 
version of  sinners,  and  the  spread  of  vital  religion  and  the 
gracious  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  are  "sensual," 
and  "have  not  the  Spirit;"  and  "if  any  man  have  not  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his." 

II.  And  this  shows  how  close  and  vital  the  relation  is  between 
the  Spirit  as  an  unction^  and  the  Spirit  as  a  seal^  which  is  the 
second  form  of  truth  presented  in  the  text.  If  we  have  the 
Spirit  in  our  souls  as  an  effectual  anointing  that  consecrates  us 
in  heart  and  life  to  the  service  of  God,  we  have  consciously 
stamped  upon  our  inward  being  the  seal  of  God.  Though  it  is 
not  so  expressed  in  the  text,  we  learn  from  other  places  of  Scrip- 
ture that  believers  are  "sealed"  by  the  Spirit.     The  apostle  re- 


XV.]   THE  SPIRIT  AN  UNCTION,  A  SEAL,  AND  AN  EARNEST.      241 

fers  to  it  as  an  experimental  fact  in  the  case  of  the  Ephesians, 
that  "  after  they  beheved,  they  were  sealed  with  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  promise,"  and  exhorts  them  not  to  "grieve  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  God,  by  whom  they  were  sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemption. " 
The  Spirit  in  the  soul  is  therefore  the  seal  with  which  God  de- 
signates his  people :  and  the  question  arises  whether  the  refer- 
ence is  to  any  special  and  peculiar  influence  and  effect  of  the 
Spirit,  or  to  his  whole  work  in  the  sanctification  of  believers. 
There  is  no  reason  that  we  are  aware  of  for  restricting  the  lan- 
guage to  any  single  aspect  of  the  Spirit's  work ;  and  by  extend- 
ing it  to  the  whole  of  what  he  does  within  a  regenerate  heart, 
we  avoid  the  danger  of  a  fanatical  dependence  on  sudden  im- 
pulses and  superficial  emotions,  which  may  or  may  not  proceed 
from  his  saving  and  gracious  operation. 

Profoundly  mysterious  though  it  be,  with  respect  to  its  man- 
ner, hkened  to  the  wind,  of  which  we  cannot  tell  whence  it  com- 
eth  or  whither  it  goeth,  its  effect  on  the  character  is  not  at  all 
mysterious,  but  an  actual  and  real  thing — an  object  of  conscious- 
ness, and  even  of  observation.  The  seal  of  the  Spirit  is  the 
soul's  sanctification;  it  is  faith,  and  love,  and  joy,  and  peace; 
it  is  deadness  to  the  world,  and  delight  in  God ;  it  is  the  spirit 
of  prayer,  and  self-denial,  and  consecration  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  It  is  that  image  of  the  invisible  God  which  is  stamped 
upon  the  spirit  and  reflected  in  the  life  of  all  true  Christians. 
The  Spirit  is  the  die,  the  soul  the  metal,  and  the  likeness  of  God 
the  character  and  the  inscription  imparted :  and  this  precisely 
is  what  the  Scriptures  mean  when  they  speak  of  the  Spirit's 
seal,  in  so  far  as  its  substance  is  concerned.  The  peculiar  lesson 
of  the  subject  lies  in  the  reasons  why  this  work  of  the  Spirit 
should  be  named  a  seal.     Among  men,  and  in  the  relations  of 

common  life  and  the  transactions  of  business,  a  seal  is  used  for 
21 


242  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

a  variety  of  purposes,  which,  however,  have  a  general  resem- 
blance. It  indicates  proprietorship,  it  authenticates  as  genuine 
and  trustworthy  the  instrument  to  which  it  is  attached,  and  it 
preserves  safe  and  inviolate  whatever  it  is  appended  to.  Thus, 
in  this  last  sense,  we  seal  our  letters  ;  and,  for  a  like  purpose, 
the  stone  laid  upon  the  sepulchre  of  Jesus  was  "  sealed." 

Every  one  of  these  ideas  and  uses  is  embraced  in  the  sealing 
of  Christians  by  the  Spirit  of  Grod.  It  is  the  stamp  by  which 
he  claims  them  as  his;  the  sign  manual  which  authenticates 
them  to  the  world  and  to  themselves  as  his  true  children ;  and 
the  sacred  defence  which  preserves  them  unto  his  kingdom  and 
glory. 

Such  a  comprehensive  interpretation  is  fully  sustained  by  a 
collation  of  the  passages  where  the  figure  occurs.  If  nominal 
Christians  fall  away  to  perdition,  those  upon  whom  Grod  hath 
set  his  mark  shall  not — ^for  "the  foundation  of  God  standeth 
sure,  having  this  seal;  the  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his." 
In  the  visions  of  John,  he  saw  an  "  angel  having  the  seal  of  the 
living  God,"  who  was  sent  forth  to  "seal  the  servants  of  God 
in  their  foreheads,"  with  an  evident  view  to  their  preservation 
from  the  calamities  which  impended  over  the  church  and  the 
world.  The  same  idea  is  expressed  when  Christians  are  spoken 
of  as  "  sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemption."  The  Spirit  in  our 
souls,  with  all  his  fruits  in  heart  and  in  life,  is  therefore  God's 
mark,  by  which  the  claim  of  everlasting  love  and  redeeming 
grace  is  asserted,  and  from  which  the  world  may  know,  and  we 
may  know,  the  relation  existing  between  the  God  of  mercy  and 
ourselves.  The  writing  of  our  names  in  the  book  of  life  is  an 
act  of  God,  not  open  for  our  inspection,  nor  possible  to  be  known 
in  any  other  way  than  as  it  is  followed  up  by  the  impression  of 
the  Spirit's  seal  upon  our  hearts.     "Because  ye  are  sons,  God 


XV.]    THE  SPIRIT  AN  UNCTION,  A  SEAL,  AND  AN  EARNEST.    1243 

hath  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  his  Son  into  your  hearts,  crying, 
Abba,  Father." 

This  seal  of  God  is  possessed  of  a  quahty  that  does  not  belong 
to  earthly  and  human  seals,  and  in  which  its  value  essentially 
consists.  It  is  incapable  of  being  counterfeited,  and  is  therefore 
infallible.  However  curious  and  elaborate  the  workmanship  on 
a  material  plate  or  die  may  be,  some  ingenious  counterfeiter  will 
make  a  pattern  of  it  so  exact  that  common  observers  can  per- 
ceive no  difference  between  the  genuine  and  the  false,  and  even 
experts  may  be  deceived.  And  so,  in  the  sphere  of  morals  and 
religion,  there  are  acts  and  characteristics  which  may  bear  a 
close  resemblance  to  that  which  is  true,  and  saving,  and  divine, 
and  yet  be  the  offspring  of  an  unsanctified  heart,  or  even  come 
of  the  working  of  Satan.  The  magicians  of  Egypt,  in  successive 
instances,  mimicked  the  miracles  of  Moses,  and  seemed  to  hare 
the  seal  of  Heaven  affixed  to  their  performances :  and  Jesus  fore- 
warned his  disciples  that  false  Christs  would  arise,  showing  such 
signs  and  wonders  that,  "  if  it  were  possible,  they  would  deceive 
the  very  elect."  And  in  the  region  of  inward  experience  and 
outward  relations  to  the  visible  kingdom  of  God,  there  are  de- 
ceptive tests  of  a  gracious  state  and  false  grounds  of  confidence, 
but  we  may  safely  affirm  that  the  seal  of  God's  Spirit  may  be 
certainly  distinguished  from  them  all:  and  whoever  has  the 
Spirit,  is  in  possession  of  the  highest  possible  evidence  of  being 
anx)bject  of  God's  pecuhar  love. 

A  more  rooted  prejudice  and  error  was  never  overcome  by  ev- 
idence, than  that  of  the  apostle  Peter,  in  reference  to  the  ad- 
mission of  Gentile  converts  directly  into  the  Christian  church. 
With  all  his  brethren,  Peter  had  thought  that  "  sinners  of  the 
Gentiles' '  must  make  two  steps  or  stages  before  they  could  reach 
a  state  of  salvation ;  first  becoming  Jews,  and  then  Christians. 


244  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Scr. 

He  tliought  that  a  believing  heathen,  must,  hke  Abraham  of 
old,  ' '  receive  the  sign  of  circumcision,  for  a  seal  of  the  right- 
eousness of  faith,"  and  could  not  think  otherwise,  till  he  saw 
that  God  himself  gave  the  higher  seal  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Then 
he  yielded,  saying — "What  was  I  that  I  should  withstand  Grod," 
and  not  baptize  them  that  "have  received  the  Holy  Grhost  as 
well  as  we?"  If  this  one  fact  be  surely  settled,  that  the  Spirit  of 
holiness  has  been  given  us,  we  need  look  no  further  for  the 
proofs  of  our  acceptance  with  Grod:  but  lacking  this,  it  is  a 
ruinous  mistake  to  build  on  anything  else.  K  we  could  speak 
with  the  tongues  of  men  and  angels,  and  understood  all  mysteries 
and  all  knowledge,  and  if  in  all  social  relations  our  character 
were  adorned  by  every  virtue  and  courtesy  which  unaided  nature, 
in  its  most  faultless  development,  ever  attains ;  and  though  at 
the  baptismal  font  we  had  received  that  sacramental  washing 
which  symbolizes  and  seals  the  Spirit's  purifying  grace,  and  at 
the  table  of  the  Lord  had  drunk  of  that  cup  which  "  is  the  new 
covenant  in  his  blood;"  these  outward  seals  of  a  visible  church 
would  attest  nothing  at  all  in  our  favour,  if  the  Spirit  of  Grod 
had  never  descended  upon  us  as  a  baptism  of  fire,  consuming 
the  dross  of  our  corruptions,  and  sanctifying  our  souls  and 
bodies  to  the  Lord.  "Sealing  ordinances,"  as  the  sacraments 
of  the  New  Testament  are  sometimes  called,  do  not  seal  the 
salvation  of  any  but  believers,  and  believers  are  they  who  have 
the  Spirit.  Without  the  indwelling  Spirit  of  God  as  the  sanc- 
tifier  of  our  nature,  it  is  a  fatal  error  to  rest  our  hope  on  any 
other  foundation ;  with  the  Spirit,  we  need  not  concern  ourselves 
about  anything  else,  whether  it  be  the  mode  of  baptism,  or  the 
jBgment  of  apostolic  succession,  or  those  minute  points  of  doc- 
trine in  reference  to  which  Christians  of  equal  enlightenment 
and  piety  may,  and  do,  difi'er  in  opinion.      Recognizing  the 


XV.]   THE  SPIRIT  AN  UNCTION,  A  SEAL,  AND  AN  EARNEST.      245 

Spirit  as  the  seal  which  God  impresses  upon  his  chosen  and  re- 
deemed people,  it  is  a  matter  of  deepest  interest  to  us  all,  to 
know  whether  it  is  consciously  and  really  stamped  upon  ourselves. 
It  is  implied  in  the  nature  of  a  seal,  that  it  is  capable  of  being 
discerned.  Visibility  belongs  to  its  very  idea.  Its  impression 
may  be  less  or  more  distinct  and  deep,  and  on  the  surface  of  our 
sinful  hearts,  like  characters  traced  on  the  sands,  continually  ob- 
scured and  effaced  by  the  overflowings  of  evil.  But  certainly  we 
cannot  but  know  the  fact,  if  the  Spirit  unvails  to  us  at  times  the 
glory  of  Christ,  and  fills  the  heart  with  a  sweet  sense  of  his  awe, 
and  inspires  intense  hatred  of  sin  and  godly  contrition  for  our 
offences ;  and  with  groanings  which  cannot  be  uttered,  makes  in- 
tercession for  us  at  the  mercy-seat.  "What!  know  ye  not  that 
your  body  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Grhost,  which  is  in  you, 
which  ye  have  of  Grod,  and  ye  are  not  your  own?" 

III.  The  Spirit  dwells  in  all  Christians  anointing  them  to  the 
service  and  sealing  them  to  the  salvation  of  Grod,  and  in  so  doing 
becomes  ^^  an  earnest'^  of  their  future  and  eternal  redemption. 
The  same  God  who  anointed  them,  and  sealed  them,  hath  given 
the  ' '  earnest  of  the  Spirit  in  their  hearts. ' ' 

Of  this  again  we  may  say  that  it  does  not  describe  any  new  or 
specifically  different  work  of  the  Spirit,  but  only  views  his  whole 
gracious  influence  and  operation  in  a  particular  aspect.  It  as- 
serts the  connexion  between  what  God  does  for  his  people  on 
earth,  and  what  he  will  do  for  them  hereafter  and  in  heaven. 
The  Spirit  of  grace  and  holiness  which  he  gives  them  now,  is  the 
earnest — the  pledge,  prophecy,  and  part  of  what  he  has  pur- 
posed to  give  them  when  grace  expands  into  glory,  and  the  dim 
light  of  earth  brightens  into  the  effulgence  of  an  eternal  day. 
' '  Earnest-money' '  is  the  sum  advanced  to  bind  the  contract,  and 

to  ensure  full  payment  at  the  time  appointed;  the  "first-fruits" 
21  * 


246  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Sef. 

which  ensure,  in  due  time,  the  ingathering  and  consecration  of 
all  the  harvest.  Such  is  the  sense  of  the  term — the  meaning  of 
the  figure — such  the  precious  doctrine  it  announces.  The  Spirit 
of  Grod  in  our  hearts  is  the  beginning  of  salvation,  and  is  given 
to  be  the  earnest  of  its  eternal  fulness ;  or,  as  the  apostle  else- 
where expresses  it,  ' '  the  earnest  of  our  inheritance  until  the  re- 
demption of  the  purchased  possession."  What  this  "posses- 
sion' '  is,  we  gather  from  a  comparison  of  Scriptures,  and  find  it 
to  be  a  blessed  immortality,  including  the  resurrection  of  the 
body,  and  the  unspeakable  and  endless  felicity  and  glory  of  our 
whole  redeemed  nature.  Depicting  ' '  the  house  not  made  with 
hands,"  to  which  the  freed  spirit  of  the  Christian  goes  at  death, 
Paul  calls  the  work  of  grace  wrought  of  God  in  the  heart,  an 
earnest  of  that  blessed  life ;  and  writing  to  the  Romans,  the 
same  apostle  says,  that  ' '  we  who  have  received  the  first-fruits 
of  the  Spirit,  are  waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemp- 
tion of  our  body. ' '  The  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead  is 
the  pledge  that  all  who  are  "  Christ's  at  his  coming"  shall  rise 
to  glory,  because  of  their  union  with  him  by  the  bond  of  his 
Spirit.  "Now  is  Christ  risen  from  the  dead,  and  become  the 
first-fruits  of  them  that  slept. "  "  But  if  the  Spirit  of  him 
that  raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead  dwell  in  you,  he  that  raised 
^up  Christ  from  the  dead  shall  also  quicken  your  mortal  bodies 
by  his  Spirit  that  dwelleth  in  you."  Here  is  a  well  of  consola- 
tion. As  certainly  as  Grod  has  given  you  his  Spirit  as  a  Com- 
forter who  enlightens,  helps,  sanctifies,  and  leads  you  in  paths 
of  holiness  and  peace,  so  certain  is  it  that  he  will  take  your  ran- 
somed spirit  to  his  presence  in  death ;  and  in  the  morning  of  the 
resurrection  will  give  you  a  body  spiritual,  immortal,  glorious, 
like  that  of  Christ. 

And  while  the  Spirit  within  is  thus  "  the  pledge  of  joys  to 


X\^.]    THE  SPIRIT  AN  UNCTION,  A  SEAL,  AND  AN  EARNEST.    247 

come,"  it  is,  at  the  same  time,  the  foretaste  of  them,  and  gives 
the  truest  conception  of  heaven  that  is  possible  to  dwellers  in 
the  flesh.  It  is  not  a  figure  of  speech,  but  the  plain  statement 
of  a  fact,  to  say  that  the  "earnest  of  the  Spirit"  is  "heaven 
begun  below,"  for  it  is  part  of  that  same  experience,  service, 
and  salvation,  which  will  constitute  the  joy  of  "  the  spirits  of  just 
men  made  perfect, ' '  when  they  go  to  the  presence  of  Jesus  and 
the  bosom  of  God.  It  is  not  the  pearly  gates,  and  golden  streets, 
and  crowns  of  gold,  the  river  of  life,  and  the  trees  of  paradise, 
that  tell  us  most  of  celestial  bliss,  but  the  adoring  reverence,  and 
grateful  love,  and  the  holy  joy,  and  the  delight  in  God  which 
the  Spirit  inspires  when  we  muse  of  Jesus  over  the  memorials 
of  his  passion,  looking  back  to  his  cross  and  up  to  his  throne. 

The  gorgeous  imagery  of  the  Apocalypse  may  excite  the  imagi- 
nation and  move  the  sensibilities  of  those  who  never  wept  for 
their  sins,  and  have  no  ' '  meetness  for  the  inheritance  of  the 
saints  in  light. ' '  The  question  is :  Have  you  the  earnest  of  the 
Spirit  in  his  holy  fruits  of  "love,  joy,  and  peace?" 

And  there  is  this  other  consoling  thought,  that  while  the  ear- 
nest foreshows  with  infallible  certainty  a  future  blessing,  it  be- 
longs to  the  nature  of  the  case,  and  the  idea  of  the  thing,  that 
there  is  an  immense  disproportion  between  the  two.  An  earnest 
is  a  little,  given  as  the  pledge  of  much.  One  is  the  dawn  strug- 
gling with  the  darkness  of  the  night:  the  other  a  glorious 
day,  without  a  cloud,  and  without  a  decline.  The  one  is  a  se- 
cret fountain  of  living  waters  opened  in  the  heart :  the  other  is 
the  river  of  life  proceeding  from  the  throne  of  God,  and  irrigat- 
ing "the  wide  extended  plains"  of  the  better  country.  Precious 
as  the  foretaste  is,  it  is  almost  nothing  to  that  which  ' '  remains 
for  the  people  of  God."  "  Now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,"  and 
we  have  the  seal  of  his  adoption  in  our  hearts,  "  but  it  doth  not 


248  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

yet  appear  what  we  shall  be"  in  the  day  of  our  coming  mani- 
festation. 

Thus,  my  brethren,  I  have  endeavoured  to  set  before  you  one 
of  the  great  mysteries  of  experimental  religion,  in  showing  you 
the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  threefold  character  and  relation  of  an 
unction^  a  sea?,  and  an  earnest  And  the  fitting  close  of  our  dis- 
course is  the  apostolic  exhortation — "  Glrieve  not  the  Holy 
Spirit."  "Quench  not  the  Spirit"  Welcome  his  visitation ;  ^ 
seek  his  influence ;  follow  his  guidance.  Walk  in  the  Spirit. 
Be  filled  with  the  Holy  Grhost.  Come  from  the  four  winds,  O  * 
breath ;  anoint,  seal,  and  keep  us  to  eternal  life. 


XVI.]  DIVINE  GUIDANCE  AND  DISCIPLINE.  249 


SERMON  XVI. 
DIVINE  GUIDANCE  AND  DISCIPLINE. 

Deut.  viii.  15,  16. —  Who  led  thee  through  that  great  and  teiinhle 
wilderness^  wherein  were  fiery  serpents^  and  scwpions,  and 
droughty  where  there  icas  no  water ;  who  brought  thee  forth 
water  out  of  the  rock  of  fiint;  who  fed  thee  in  the  wilderness 
with  manna,  which  thy  fathers  hnew  not,  that  he  might  humble 
thee,  and  that  he  might  prove  thee,  to  do  thee  good  at  thy  latter 
end. 

This  passage  throws  light  on  a  subject  of  deep  and  abiding 
interest  to  the  people  of  God.  The  methods  of  his  providential 
dealing  with  his  children  and  his  church  are  a  form  of  Divine 
revelation  which  demands  more  of  the  spirit  of  faith  and  sub- 
mission than  is  required  by  the  most  mysterious  doctrines  of  the 
Bible. 

Such  sublime  mysteries  as  the  Incarnation,  the  Trinity,  and 
the  Atonement,  lying  as  they  do  beyond  the  sphere  of  reason's 
discoveries,  are  to  be  accepted  by  an  act  of  simple  faith  in  God, 
who  reveals  them :  and  this  only  involves  that  kind  and  degree 
of  humility  which  consists  in  acknowledging  the  inferiority  of 
our  feeble  intelligence  to  his  infinite  understanding.  But  when 
we  turn  from  the  revelations  of  Scripture  to  the  discoveries  of 


250  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

Providence^  from  doctrines  which  address  themselves  to  the  un- 
derstanding, to  providential  dispensations  which  defeat  our  pur- 
poses, disappoint  our  expectations,  and  wound  our  sensibilities, 
the  case  is  very  different,  and  we  find  it  exceedingly  difficult  to 
believe  in  the  wisdom  and  bow  to  the  sovereignty  of  Jehovah. 
The  feelings  and  behaviour  developed  in  such  circumstances,  are 
a  test  of  character  the  most  infallible. 

Under  the  Providence  which  guides  the  way  and  determines 
the  lot  of  individuals,  and  churches,  and  communities,  a  twofold 
revelation  is  ever  going  on :  God  is  revealed  to  men,  and  men 
are  revealed  to  themselves ;  and  both  for  the  most  important  ends. 
Let  us,  therefore,  make  the  subject  of  his  Providential  lead- 
ing AND  DISCIPLINE  the  theme  of  our  present  meditations. 

The  text  exhibits  it  under  the  threefold  aspect  of  its  charac- 
teristics^ its  present  effects,  and  \is  final  purpose. 

I.  With  regard  to  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  Divine 
guidance,  we  may  take  the  description  of  Israel's  condition  and 
pilgrimage  through  the  desert  as  embodying  the  substantial  truth 
of  universal  experience.  Besides  being  a  chapter  in  the  general 
history  of  the  world,  their  case  has  the  remarkable  peculiarity 
of  being  the  model,  or  type,  of  the  Divine  method  with  all  men, 
and  through  all  time.  Israel  was  a  typical  people,  and  all  that 
befell  them  had  a  prophetic  reference,  and  "happened,"  as  the 
apostle  says,  "for  our  ensamples,  and  is  written  for  our  admoni- 
tion upon  whom  the  ends  of  the  world  are  come. ' '  The  grand 
difference  between  the  Divine  guidance  then  and  now  regards 
the  miraculous  element,  and  the  material,  visible  forms  which  it 
assumed :  in  all  its  essential  characteristics  it  is  the  same.  It 
must  needs  be  so :  it  is  exercised  by  the  same  God,  upon  men 
of  the  same  character,  and  for  the  self-same  purposes.  Every 
feature  of  God's  dealing  with  the  Jews  has  its  spmtual  antitype 


XVI.]  DIVINE  GUIDANCE  AND  DISCIPLINE.  251 

in  the  methods  of  his  providence  towards  ourselves.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  note  the  particulars  in  which  the  parallel  holds  true. 

The  guidance  is  real  and  actual  in  both  cases.  It  is  said  in 
the  text,  that  God  "  led  "  Israel  through  the  wilderness.  They 
were  not  left  to  choose  their  own  way :  it  was  divinely  ordered 
from  beginning  to  end.  They  had  Moses  for  a  leader,  but  he 
was  obedient  to  the  commands  of  a  higher  Power:  "Jehovah 
led  Israel  like  a  flock,  by  the  hand  of  Moses  and  Aaron." 

And  what  is  remarkable,  he  did  much  more  than  indicate  the 
general  direction  in  which  they  were  to  journey.  He  marked 
the  precise  track ;  appointed  every  encampment ;  gave  the  sig- 
nal for  every  march  and  every  halt  throughout  their  entire  wan- 
derings. Grod  assumed  to  himself  the  whole  conduct  of  their 
progress :  nothing  was  left  to  their  own  choice.  Their  taste, 
their  temper,  not  even  their  judgment  was  consulted ;  and  all 
this  was  done  not  in  the  absoluteness  of  Divine  sovereignty,  but 
in  the  tenderness  of  Divine  compassion.  It  was  the  act  of  a  Fa- 
ther whose  wisdom  and  strength  supplement  the  ignorance  and 
helplessness  of  the  child  which  he  leads  by  the  hand.  As  of 
old,  so  now,  God  leads  his  people.  It  is  actual  and  real.  No 
pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire  is  seen,  but  the  vanished  symbol  has 
not  carried  away  the  indwelling  God.  It  is  the  glorious  mark 
of  the  New  Testament  age,  that  God  is  nearer  now  than  he  was 
before :  and  we  know  thaft  a  Presence  more  precious  than  that 
majestic  sign  rests  upon  the  habitations,  and  leads  the  way  of 
Israel  still.  The  whole  sacramental  host,  in  its  sublime  proces- 
sion, and  in  each  of  its  lowly  members,  has  yet  "the  Lord  going 
before  them"  for  a  Leader  and  Guide,  and  "the  glory  of  the 
Lord"  as  a  "wall  of  fire"  for  their  "rear- ward." 

Not  one  of  us  is  left  to  choose  our  own  way.  Taste,  sensibili- 
ties, affections,  reason,  have  their  uses,  but  they  are  not  ade- 


252  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Sor. 

quate  to  decide  the  condition  or  choose  the  way  which  shall  best 
subserve  the  interests  of  the  soul :  ' '  The  way  of  man  is  not  in 
himself;  it  is  not  in  man  that  walketh  to  direct  his  steps." 
This  Divine  oracle  is  verified  in  the  experience  and  history  of  us 
all.  In  old  age,  and  even  at  middle  life,  we  look  back  with  as- 
tonishment at  the  way  by  which  we  have  come ;  our  doings  and 
our  experiences  are  wonderfully  different  from  all  that  we  had 
purposed  and  expected. 

A  thousand  incidents  and  events  over  which  we  had  no  con- 
trol, have,  as  it  were,  impinged  against  us,  and  turned  us  from 
the  intended  course ;  and  the  point  we  have  now  reached  is 
manifestly  the  resultant  of  forces  external  to  ourselves,  and  high 
above  all  human  calculations. 

The  counsel  and  the  hand  of  God  shapes  the  lot  of  us  all :  and 
the  very  ' '  steps' '  of  the  good  man  are  ordered  by  the  Lord. 
This  is  true  in  a  manifold  sense.  As  it  respects  the  path  of 
duty,  God  leads  his  people  by  his  revealed  will  in  the  Scriptures, 
and  by  the  gracious  influences  of  his  Spirit  in  their  hearts :  and 
as  it  regards  their  outward  circumstances  and  condition,  he  leads 
them  by  providential  dispensations,  which  directly  and  deeply 
affect  them  in  their  persons,  their  property,  their  friends,  their 
reputation — in  everything  which  goes  to  make  up  the  sum  of 
their  prosperity  or  of  their  affliction.  That  our  worldly  lot  is 
appointed  of  the  Lord,  is  a  clearly  revealed  truth  of  Scripture ; 
and  that  it  exerts  a  powerful  influence  in  the  development  and 
formation  of  character,  is  an  equally  certain  truth,  taught  both 
by  Scripture  and  experience. 

2dly.  This  Divine  guidance  is  exceedingly  different  from  any- 
thing we  should  expect  or  desire.  That  country  through  which 
the  Israelites  were  led,  was  one  of  the  most  horrid  and  inhospit- 
able regions  of  the  globe:   "a  great  and  terrible  wilderness, 


XVI.]  DIVINE  GUIDANCE  AND   DISCIPLINE.  253 

wherein  were  fiery  serpents  and  scorpions,  and  drought,  where 
there  was  no  water. "  If  there  had  been  no  other  possible  route 
by  which  the  land  of  promise  could  be  reached,  we  should  not 
wonder  that  this  was  chosen :  but  there  was  another,  more  direct 
and  more  easily  travelled  along  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean. 
That,  to  be  sure,  was  not  without  its  difficulties ;  the  Philistines 
would  have  waged  war  on  the  people,  and  for  this  reason,  ( we 
are  told),  they  took  a  different  direction,  lest  seeing  war  so  soon 
after  departing  from  Egypt,  they  should  "repent"  and  re- 
turn. 

Comparing  the  whole  difficulties  of  the  two  roads,  it  is  certain 
that  the  one  selected  was  by  far  the  most  painful  and  trying  to 
flesh  and  sense,  and  one  that  would  assuredly  have  been  rejected 
by  man's  unaided  reason.  Yet  it  was  chosen  of  God  as  best  for 
the  purpose  which  he  had  in  view.  If  the  bodily  comfort  and 
temporal  convenience  of  Israel,  had  been  his  aim,  his  procedure 
would,  doubtless,  have  been  very  different;  but  designing  to 
improve  their  character,  and  to  prepare  them  for  a  high  mission 
and  destiny,  he  led  them  through  scenes  of  trial,  and  ex- 
posed them  to  hardships,  which  served  as  a  discipline  for  the 
correction  of  their  faults  and  the  development  of  their  virtues. 

But  while  this  was  his  purpose,  their  thoughts  and  expecta- 
tions were  different.  Uppermost  in  their  minds  was  the  idea 
of  getting  possession  of  Canaan,  that  goodly  land  of  wealth,  and 
beauty,  and  luxury ;  foremost  in  the  thoughts  of  God,  was  the 
determination  to  make  them  fit  for  it.  Hence  the  record  of 
cross-purposes  which  their  history  perpetuates.  They  were  con- 
tinually surprised,  perplexed,  and  angered  even  by  the  doings 
of  God.  It  seemed  to  them,  at  times,  as  if  he  had  made  the 
greatest  possible  mistakes,  and  the  acts  of  his  providence  were 

in  the  most  absolute  contradiction  to  the  word  of  his  promise. 
22 


254  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

They  grew  impatient — "  their  soul  was  much  discouraged  be- 
cause of  the  way;"  they  murmured,  they  broke  out  in  open 
mutiny  against  his  leadership.  Their  wishes  were  not  at  one 
with  Grod's  purposes,  and  this  was  the  root  of  all  their  troubles. 
It  is  the  same  with  ourselves.  Two  things  conspire  to  make  us 
think  strange  of  God's  providential  dealings.  One  of  these  is 
our  natural  and  selfish  desire  of  ease  and  prosperity.  We  not 
only  desire,  but,  setting  out  in  life,  we  expect  to  pursue  the  even 
tenor  of  our  way,  enjoying  a  steady  flow  of  success  and  happi- 
ness. When  this  delusive  hope  is  dissipated  by  the  rude  blasts 
of  adversitj^,  we  take  it  greatly  to  heart ;  and  if  we  do  not  in- 
dulge hard  thoughts  of  God,  we  wonder  very  much  that  he 
should  do  as  he  does ;  and  instead  of  coming  directly  to  the  con- 
clusion that  our  character  requires  the  discipline  of  these  se- 
vere providences,  we  look  intently  at  the  second  causes — the 
agents  and  instrumentalities  which  have  occasioned  our  suffering 
and  disappointment,  and  vent  on  them  our  regrets  or  reproaches. 
If  men  have  injured  us,  our  indignation  against  them  prevents 
the  recognition  of  Him  who  hath,  at  least  by  his  permissive  de- 
cree, commissioned  them  as  his  instruments.  Few  of  us,  I  fear, 
have  the  piety  of  David,  who,  when  Shimei  cursed,  said  "Let 
him  alone,  for  it  may  be  the  Lord  hath  bidden  him." 

To  our  selfish  love  of  ease  and  prosperity  must  be  added  the 
consideration  of  our  ignorance.  We  know  but  little  either  of 
ourselves  or  of  God.  Our  weaknesses,  faults,  dangers,  are,  in  a 
great  degree,  hidden  from  our  view.  ' '  Who  can  understand  his 
errors?"  Ignorant  of  what  we  are,  we  are  equally  so  in  refer- 
ence to  what  we  need,  and,  most  of  all,  ignorant  of  the  best  and 
most  effectual  processes  and  means  by  which  our  character  may 
be  improved  and  our  dangers  escaped.  Not  only  are  our  under- 
standings limited,  as  those  of  creatures  must  needs  be,  but  our 


XVI.]  DIVINE  GUIDANCE  AND  DISCIPLINE.  255 

minds  are  blinded  by  self-love,  prejudice,  and  pride :  and  no- 
thing is  more  certain  tban  that  if  we  were  left  to  prescribe  for 
our  own  case,  and  choose  our  own  way,  we  would  commit  the 
most  egregious  and  fatal  blunders. 

Looking  down  from  above,  the  Omniscient  Eye  sees  us  just  as 
we  are ;  it  beholds  what  is  within,  and  around,  and  before  us ; 
and  with  infallible  certainty  it  appoints  the  treatment  and  disci- 
pline which  the  case  demands.  Of  course  the  appointments  of 
Infinite  Wisdom  do  not  move  in  the  same  plane  with  the  wishes 
and  purposes  of  our  darkened  understandings  and  selfish  hearts. 
His  thoughts  are  not  our  thoughts,  neither  are  his  ways  our 
waj'^s :  "I  will  bring,"  saith  he,  "  the  blind  by  a  way  that  they 
knew  not ;  I  will  lead  them  in  paths  that  they  have  not  known : 
I  will  make  darkness  light  before  them,  and  crooked  things 
straight.  These  things  will  I  do  unto  them,  and  not  forsake 
them." 

Informed  of  this  beforehand,  we  ought  not  to  be  astonished 
at  anything  which  befalls  us  in  the  unfoldings  of  providence :  we 
should  not  think  it  strange  concerning  the  fiery  trial  which  tries 
us,  as  though  some  strange  thing  happened  to  us :  yet  we  are 
continually  doing  so,  and  are  thereby  showing  how  ignorant  we 
are  of  the  plans  and  principles  of  that  holy  and  gracious  provi- 
dence which  God  exercises  over  his  children  and  his  church. 

3.  A  third  characteristic  of  his  guidance  and  discipline  is  its 
severity.  It  is  distressing  to  the  flesh ;  it  wounds  most  pain- 
fully our  sensibilities :  it  is  often  so  contrived  as  to  strike  the 
most  tender  point ;  it  smites  down  the  object  of  our  peculiar 
idolatry.  The  great  and  terrible  wilderness,  the  drought,  the 
fiery  serpents,  and  the  scorpions,  have  their  several  antitypes  in 
the  experience  of  believers  still.  Under  its  ordinary  and  inva- 
riable conditions,  their  life  is  one  of  severe  and  ceaseless  disci- 


256  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser, 

pline.  Its  labours,  temptations,  difficulties,  disappointments, 
are  more  than  a  school  of  instruction ;  they  are  a  gymnasium 
for  exercise  and  training,  in  which  the  members  and  faculties  of 
the  spiritual  man  are  developed  and  strengthened  by  beiiig 
stretched  to  their  utmost  tension.  The  daily  marches  of  Israel 
over  the  hot  sands  of  the  desert  were  a  weariness  of  the  flesh : 
and  like  to  this  is  the  daily  routine  of  our  common  duties  and 
toils,  dull  through  sameness,  and  tiresome  in  their  ceaseless  re- 
currence.  The  mechanic  in  his  shop,  the  labourer  in  the  field, 
the  mother  in  her  family,  the  teacher  in  the  school-room,  the 
worker  in  any  form  of  industry,  is  subjected  to  a  discipline  which, 
while  not  without  its  attendant  pleasures,  is  wearisome  and 
painful  to  our  frail  natures.  A  more  comfortless  experience  is 
symbolized  by  the  long  and  tedious  encampments  of  Israel  in 
the  wilderness,  when  they  had  nothing  to  do  but  wait  for  the 
motion  of  the  cloudy  pillar  which  bade  them  strike  their  tents 
and  renew  their  march.  It  would  seem  that  in  many  places 
they  tarried  for  months.  This  was  probably  felt  to  be  a  greater 
trial  than  the  fatigues  of  travel.  Soldiers  grow  so  weary  of  the 
monotony  and  tedium  of  camp  life,  as  to  desire  the  change  even 
of  a  hurried  march,  or  of  a  hostile  conflict.  *  A  calm  at  sea  is 
represented  by  voyagers  as  quite  insupportable ;  a  storm  would 
almost  be  welcomed  for  variety.  There  is  something  like  this 
in  the  life  of  a  Christian.  He  is  commanded  to  stand  still,  and 
wait  patiently  the  Lord's  time.  To  all  appearance,  the  work  of 
God  in  his  own  heart,  in  the  church,  in  the  world,  is  at  a  stand- 
still ;  the  tribes  of  the  Lord  indolently  repose  in  their  tents. 
pis  ardent  spirit  grows  impatient ;  he  chafes  under  the  restraint, 
and  almost  questions  the  wisdom  of  Him  who,  from  his  high 
and  mighty  throne,  directs  the  movements  of  his  people,  and 
sees  it  as  necessary  that  they  should  halt  at  one  time,  as  that 


XVI.]  DIVINE  GUIDANCE  AND  DISCIPLINE.  257 

they  should  go  forward  at  another.  But  if  it  was  fatiguing  for 
Israel  to  march,  and  even  more  trying  to  he  idly  in  their  tents, 
they  had  a  harsher  and  worse  experience  when  fiery  serpents 
stung  them,  and  enemies  attacked  them,  and  all  manner  of  posi- 
tive evils  befell  them.  These  all  are  reproduced  in  the  spiritual 
foes  which  assail  the  Christian,  and  in  the  providential  afflictions 
which  overtake  him.  If  fiery  flying  serpents  are  no  more  seen, 
the  "fiery  darts"  of  an  invisible  foe  are  hurled  at  him,  and  prin- 
cipalities and  powers  of  evil  bring  their  malice  and  strategy  to 
bear  upon  him.  And  when,  in  addition  to  all  that  he  suffers  at 
the  hands  of  them  that  hate  him,  God  lays  upon  him  the  bur- 
den of  some  temporal  calamity,  the  anguish  he  endures  is  terri- 
ble, and  a  "fiery  trial"  it  is,  through  which  he  is  caused  to 
pass.  How  such  afflictions  as  his  can  proceed  from  love,  or  tend 
to  his  advantage,  it  is  impossible  to  see,  and  not  easy  to  believe ; 
but  in  the  light  of  Divine  revelation,  we  know  that  such  is  the 
fact. 

4.  A  fourth  and  last  characteristic  of  the  Divine  guidance  and 
discipline  exercised  over  Israel,  was  the  supernatural  method 
employed  to  supply  their  wants.  The  country  through  which 
they  journeyed  produced  neither  bread  nor  water  adequate  to 
their  necessities.  To  all  human  appearance,  they  were  repeat- 
edly on  the  point  of  perishing  by  famine,  or  of  dying  with  thirst. 
If  it  was  a  necessary  incident  of  travelling  through  such  a  country, 
it  was  none  the  less  a  part  of  God's  plan  that  their  wants  should 
not  be  supplied  in  the  natural  and  ordinary  way,  as  though  it 
were  by  human  providence  and  from  common  sources,  but  in  a 
manner  wholly  supernatural,  and,  up  to  this  time,  unheard  of 
among  men:  "Who  brought  thee  forth  water  out  of  the  rock 
of  flint,  and  fed  thee  in  the  wilderness  with  manna,  which  thy 

fathers  knew  not." 
22  * 


258  TRUTH  LN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

Herein  was  a  deep  and  divine  mj'stery.  "They  drank  of 
that  spiritual  rock  which  followed  them,  and  that  rock  was 
Christ."  And  with  respect  to  the  manna— the  angels'  food,  of 
which  man  did  eat — He  whom  it  typified  has  declared — ' '  Moses 
gave  you  not  that  bread  from  heaven,  but  my  Father  giveth  you 
the  true  bread  from  heaven."  Their  supplies  proceeded  imme- 
diately— almost  visibly — from  the  hand  of  Grod.  While  he  thus 
made  them  know  "  that  man  doth  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but 
by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord," 
it  also  taught,  in  a  figure,  that  the  believer's  life  is  "hid  with 
Christ  in  Grod,"  and  is  nourished  by  streams  which  gush  from 
the  "smitten  Rock"  of  an  atoning  Saviour,  and  by  a  celestial 
manna  that  daily  falls  about  his  habitation. 

When  the  Hebrews  awoke  in  the  morning,  they  looked  around 
their  dwellings  for  the  miraculous  and  heaven-sent  food,  and 
so  were  kept  in  habitual  contact  with  God :  and  thus  he  deals 
with  believers  still.  He  requires,  and,  by  the  methods  of  his 
providence  and  grace,  compels  the  Christian  to  resort  to  him 
every  day,  and  to  lead  a  life  of  actual  and  conscious  dependence 
upon  him  for  heavenly  succour  and  supplies.  If  infidelity  scofl's, 
let  it  do  so  ;  if  the  world,  grovelling  amid  carnal  pleasures  and 
sensible  objects,  hears  it  with  scornful  incredulity,  we  must  en- 
dure it ;  but  it  is  a  fact,  that  the  life  which  the  Christian  lives 
on  earth  involves  an  element  of  the  supernatural,  brings  him 
into  daily  contact  and  communion  with  Grod,  and  is  maintained 
by  supports,  influences,  and  aliment  which  do  not  flow  in  the 
common  channels  of  human  agency,  nor  proceed  from  fountams 
of  man's  creation.  The  life  which  he  lives  in  the  flesh,  is  a  life 
of  faith  on  the  Son  of  God  :  and  he  comes  to  look  as  habitually 
to  the  Throne  of  Grace  for  the  food  and  refreshment  of  the  soul, 
as  he  does  to  his  fields  and  gardens  for  ' '  the  meat  that  perisheth. ' ' 


I 

XVI.]  DIVINE  GUIDANCE  AND  DISCIPLINE.  259 

Sucli  appear  to  be  the  principal  features  of  that  guidance 
AND  discipline  which  God  exercises  over  his  people.  Being 
in  its  nature  an  actual  and  real  interposition  which  directs  their 
way  and  shapes  their  lot,  it  differs  exceedingly  from  all  their 
natural  desires  and  expectations,  while  it  bears  severely  on  their 
feelings,  and  requires  them  to  depend  on  God,  and  repair  to 
him  daily  for  the  supports  of  their  spiritual  life. 

II.  Why  this  particular  method  is  adopted  is  an  inquiry  which 
naturally  arises,  and  to  which  we  find  a  very  interesting  and 
satisfactory  answer  in  the  text.  In  the  case  of  Israel,  it  was  de- 
signed to  produce  an  immediate  effect  on  their  character,  and  a 
future  effect  on  their  condition:  "That  he  might  humble  thee, 
and  that  he  might  prove  thee,  to  do  thee  good  at  thy  latter  end. 
With  you  and  me,  my  brethren,  God  is  dealing  in  the  same  man- 
ner, and  for  the  same  purpose.  With  respect  to  our  character, 
the  design  and  tendency  of  Divine  discipline  is  to  produce  the 
twofold  effect  of  humility  and  probation.  Under  the  providence 
of  God,  all  men  are  proved.  If  the  spirit  of  faith  and  submis- 
sion exists  in  their  hearts,  trial  brings  it  to  the  surface,  shows 
to  themselves  and  others  what  manner  of  men  they  are,  and  at 
the  same  time  strengthens  the  gracious  principle  which  it  dis- 
plays. If  the  spirit  of  unbelief  and  rebellion  lurk  within,  pro- 
bation strips  off  the  mask ;  and  that  which  before  was  hidden 
comes  forth  in  words  of  murmuring  and  blasphemy,  and  in  acts 
of  open  disobedience  and  revolt.  It  does  not  make  a  man 
wicked,  but  only  shows  him  to  be  what  he  actually  is. 

Nearly  the  entire  multitude  of  those  who  came  out  of  Egypt 
appear  to  have  been  of  this  character,  and  after  they  had,  amidst 
a  scene  of  unparalleled  mercies  and  judgments,  disclosed  their 
unbelief  and  rebellion,  they  were  solemnly  excluded  from  Canaan, 


260  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

and  doomed  to  drag  out  a  wretched  existence  and  leave  their 
bones  in  the  desert.  On  others,  the  discipHne  of  the  wilderness 
had  a  different  effect,  especially  on  those  who  were  children  at 
the  time  of  the  Exodus,  and  who  had  grown  up  to  maturity 
under  the  influences  and  amid  the  scenes  of  that  long  and  won- 
drous journey.  With  few  exceptions,  the  nation  was  composed 
of  these,  at  the  time  this  address  was  made  to  Israel.  They  had 
been  humbled  as  well  as  proved ;  their  spirit  was  chastened  and 
subdued.  They  were  schooled  to  the  habit  of  renouncing  self 
and  depending  on  Grod ;  and  thus  they  were,  in  a  measure,  pre- 
pared for  that  release  from  the  discipline  of  toil  and  sorrow, 
which  awaited  them  in  Canaan.  The  church  of  Christ,  and  each 
of  its  members,  is  now  undergoing  a  similar  process  to  its  pre- 
paration for  a  like  glorious  deliverance.  Through  the  valley  of 
humiliation  we  journey  to  the  mountains  of  the  heavenly  Zion 
humbled  first,  to  be  afterwards  and  for  ever  exalted. 

We  need  to  be  humbled.  We  all  need  it  more  than  we  are 
willing  to  confess,  or  are  consciously  aware.  Proud  self-reHance 
is  the  besetting  sin  of  apostate  humanity.  The  desire  to  be  "as 
gods' '  was  the  door  through  which  temptation  entered,  and  ever 
since  men  naturally  wish  and  try  to  be  independent  of  their 
Maker.  They  trust  in  their  own  hearts,  in  an  arm  of  flesh,  in 
the  sagacity  of  human  reason,  in  the  efiiciency  of  second  causes, 
rather  than  in  the  wisdom,  the  power,  the  providence,  the  re- 
velations of  God.  So  far  as  this  goes,  it  is  atheism ;  it  is  the 
insane  and  wicked  attempt  of  a  fallen  creature  to  be  a  god  unto 
himself  It  is  pride  in  its  most  offensive  shape.  Grod  abhors 
it.  He  sets  himself,  in  the  dispensations  of  his  providence,  by 
the  influences  of  his  grace,  by  the  solemn  commands  of  his  word, 
to  condemn,  and  mortify,  and  root  it  out  of  our  hearts.  This 
aim  he  steadily  pursues  from  the  hour  he  first  begins  to  deal 


XVI.]  DIVINE  GUIDANCE  AND  DISCIPLINE.  261 

with  any  of  us  in  a  specially  gracious  way,  till  the  pilgrimage  of 
life  is  closed. 

Humility  is  the  sense  of  our  dependence  on  God ;  and  this  we 
feel  when  under  the  discipline  of  his  providence.  In  sickness, 
when  flesh  and  heart  fail  us ;  in  financial  reverses,  when  our 
shrewdest  calculations  are  proved  to  be  great  mistakes ;  in  po- 
litical convulsions,  like  that  which  is  now  sweeping  over  the  land 
and  threatening  to  remove  "the  foundations  of  many  genera- 
tions;"  in  the  trying  interval  of  waiting,  which  separates 
between  the  time  of  our  spiritual  seed-sowing  and  the  season  of 
ingathering,  when  it  seems  as  if  we  had  laboured  in  vain  and 
spent  our  strength  for  naught, — we  are  made  to  feel  our  weak- 
ness, to  confess  our  ignorance,  and,  in  the  sense  of  absolute  de- 
pendence, to  place  our  only  trust  in  Grod.  If  we  understood  and 
remembered  this  better,  we  should  not  wonder  and  complain  so 
much  of  his  providences.  What  he  designs  is  to  humble  us, 
and  this  requires  severe  processes,  and  in  some  more  than  in 
others. 

It  required  a  schooling  of  forty  years  in  the  case  of  the  Jews : 
it  may  take  an  equal,  or  even  longer  term  with  us ;  but  the 
lesson  is  so  valuable,  the  attainment  so  high,  that  it  is  cheap  at 
any  cost.  Precious  in  itself,  it  is  even  more  so  in  reference  to 
what  comes  after,  and  is  made  to  depend  upon  it.  This  is  so 
glorious,  that  it  may  reconcile  us  a  thousand  times  to  the  toil 
and  pain  by  which  it  is  preceded  and  purchased.  God  "  hum- 
bles" us  now,  that  he  "  may  do  us  good  at  our  latter  end." 

Our  trials  and  disappointments  and  sorrows  are  but  the  training 
of  the  school-boy  which  fits  him  for  the  dignified  and  useful  em- 
ployments of  manhood ;  the  education  of  the  heir  for  the  use 
and  management  of  his  estate.  During  the  period  of  his  mi- 
nority he  difiers  nothing  from  a  servant,  though  he  be  lord  of 


262  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

all,  but  is  under  tutors  and  governors  till  tlie  time  appointed  of 
the  Father. 

When  that  arrives,  he  enters  on  his  possessions  and  enjoys 
his  hereditary  rights.  The  method  of  grace  is  in  line  with  these 
earthly  analogies :  and  in  drawing  to  a  close,  I  would  bring  this 
delightful  truth  to  bear  as  a  motive  power  on  the  heart  and 
life. 

1.  Use  it  as  a  key  to  the  mystery  of  providence.  If  we  did 
not  know  what  God  was  aiming  at  in  the  dispensations  of  his 
providence,  we  should  be  hopelessly  perplexed.  Apart  from 
the  glorious  immortality  which  awaits  believers  in  another  world, 
it  would  be  impossible  to  explain  his  dealings  with  them  in  this. 
Informed  that  he  is  proving,  humbling,  and  otherwise  educating 
them  on  earth,  with  a  view  to  exalt  them  to  thrones  of  glory  in 
heaven,  we  can  see  the  adaptation  of  means  to  ends,  and,  in 
some  degree  at  least,  comprehend  and  justify  the  ways  of  God 
to  man.  And  what  we  know  not  now,  we  shall  know  hereafter, 
when  the  end  is  reached,  and  the  purposes  of  God  are  all  accom- 
plished. Till  then  we  may  cheerfully  rest  in  his  wisdom  and 
love,  assured  that  in  one  way  or  another,  and  sooner  or  later, 
"all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God,  to 
them  who  are  the  called  according  to  his  purpose." 

2.  The  hope  of  that  good  which  God  will  do  to  us  at  our  latter 
end  should  not  only  reconcile  us  to  the  trials  of  our  pilgrimage, 
but  fill  our  hearts  with  holy  joy. 

The  language  in  its  naked  simplicity  is  most  beautiful  and  at- 
tractive— "  To  do  thee  good." 

It  is  good  that  shall  be  done  to  us,  and  it  is  God  that  will  do 
it :  it  will  therefore  be  certainly  and  eiFectually  done.  He  will 
do  good  to  the  soul,  in  its  perfect  purity  and  immortal  life  ;  and 
to  the  body  in  its  resurrection,  in  the  likeness  of  its  Redeemer's 


XVL]  DIVINE  GUIDANCE  AND  DISCIPLINE.  263 

glorified  flesh :  to  both  in  their  eternal  union  with  one  another 
and  with  himself.  He  will  do  us  good  at  our  "latter  end." 
The  good  he  now  does  to  us  is  not  small ;  but  comparatively,  it 
is  so  little  that  all  good  is  spoken  of  as  future.  Past  good  is 
pleasant  in  the  remembrance  ;  present  good  is  sweet  to  experi- 
ence :  but  infinitely  more  important  than  either,  is  the  coming 
good  which  God  will  do  at  our  latter  end,  in  death,  and  to  all 
eternit3^ 

What  in  particular  it  is,  doth  not  appear.  That  goodly  land 
into  which  Israel  entered  with  shouts  and  songs,  was  its  type, — 
a  land  of  shady  bowers,  of  enchanting  landscapes,  of  crystal  foun- 
tains, and  delicious  fruits.  That  was  a  paradise  ;  but  this  is  a 
better  country,  that  is,  a  heavenly,  in  which  those  who  have  come 
out  from  so  severe  a  bondage  "shall  hunger  no  more,  neither 
thirst  any  more ;  neither  shall  the  sun  light  on  them,  nor  any 
heat.  For  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  shall 
feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them  unto  living  fountains  of  waters : 
and  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes. ' ' 


264  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Scr. 


SERMON  XVII. 

THE  BANQUET  AND  THE  BANNER. 

Solomon's  Song  ii.  4. — He  brought  me  to  the  hanqueting- 
house,  and  his  banner  over  me  tvas  Love. 

A  DEEPLY  spiritual  mind  is  the  best  interpreter  of  this  Divine 
song.  To  the  earthly  and  carnal,  profoundly  ignorant  as  they 
are  of  the  holy  delights  of  communion  with  Christ,  its  meaning 
is  hid,  and  the  drapery  of  natural  relations  and  endearments  in 
which  it  is  clothed  might  even  prove  ' '  a  savour  of  death  unto 
death,"  exciting  unholy  desire,  instead  of  lifting  the  soul  to  fel- 
lowship with  Heaven.  The  parabolic  dress  thrown  around  the 
doctrines  and  discourses  of  the  Saviour  attracted  and  impressed 
the  teachable  and  the  believing,  while  it  concealed  the  mysteries  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  from  those  of  a  different  spirit.  It  may 
be  that  the  images  and  expressions  of  human  love,  which,  even 
in  the  exaggeration  and  profusion  of  Oriental  poetry,  abound  in 
this  singular  song,  have  been  abused  to  foster  other  emotions 
than  those  which  the  Spirit  of  inspiration  intended :  and  we 
know  that  infidel  objectors  have  sneered  at  the  Volume  which 
contains  such  a  book.  But  if  this  were  sufficient  reason  for  dis- 
placing it  from  the  canon  of  Scripture,  no  part  of  the  Bible 
would  be  left,  since,  from  Genesis  to  Revelation,  it  has  been  all 


XVII.]  THE  BANQUET  AND  THE  BANNER.  265 

assailed  by  the  same  parties,  and  for  the  hke  reasons.  To  neu- 
trahze  such  cavils,  and  to  prove  the  real  tendency  and  use  of 
this  part  of  Scripture,  it  is  enough  to  know  that  men  who  lived 
in  closest  fellowship  with  God  have  not  only  received  this  Song 
of  Songs  as  a  portion  of  his  revealed  will,  but  have  found  in  it 
the  peculiar  nourishment  of  their  spiritual  life.  To  them,  as 
Hengstenberg  expresses  it,  ' '  all  nature  is,  as  it  were,  turned  into 
spirit :  Whoso  has  made  the  Song  of  Songs  a  part  of  his  very 
flesh  and  blood,  must  look  on  nature  with  other  eyes.  Even  the 
human  body  is  glorified  in  this  poem."* 

No  book  of  Scripture  abounds  so  much  in  allusions  to  natural 
objects,  or  so  constantly  makes  them  the  vehicle  of  spiritual 
truths.  Walking  amid  its  gardens  of  spices  and  flowers,  where 
every  image  that  greets  the  senses  is  most  agreeable,  it  is  like  a 
return  to  the  primitive  Eden  of  the  unfallen  race,  where  every 
tree  that  was  pleasant  to  the  eyes  and  good  for  food  surrounded 
the  innocent  and  holy  pair,  and  at  set  seasons  God,  their  Maker, 
met  and  communed  with  them.  Such  it  was  to  Samuel  Ruther- 
ford in  the  dark  days  of  Scottish  persecutions ;  and  to  Jonathan 
Edwards,  whose  metaphysical  acumen  was  fully  equalled  by  the 
depth  of  his  devotion  ;  and  to  the  seraphic  McCheyne,  who,  as 
it  is  said,  had  scarce  left  himself  a  text  of  its  good  matter  from 
which  he  had  not  preached.  This  is  sufficiently  accounted  for 
by  the  fact  that  its  general  theme,  according  to  all  evangelical 
interpreters,  is  the  intimate  union  and  mutual  love  of  Christ 
and  the  church. 

Than  this  no  subject  is  more  tender  and  inspiring.     The  Solo- 
mon to  whom  its  imagery  applies  is  no  earthly  monarch,  but 
that  heavenly  Prince  of  peace  of  whom  the  son  and  successor 
of  David  was  an  eminent  type.     The  newly  married  husband 
*  P.  279. 
23 


266  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

whom  he  represents  is  the  Bridegroom  of  the  church,  and  the 
fair  one  in  whom  he  sees  no  blemish,  is  she  whom  his  everlasting 
love  elected,  his  precious  blood  washed,  and  the  robe  of  his  right- 
eousness and  grace  adorned.  Of  the  sacred  union  thus  esta- 
blished, and  the  tender  endearments  thence  arising,  the  passage 
before  us  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  suggestive  expressions. 
It  is  the  grateful,  admiring,  and  delighted  language  of  the  church 
proclaiming  the  goodness  and  grace  of  her  kingly  husband  and 
Lord.     "  He  brought  me,"  &c. 

Our  meditations  may  take  their  form  from  the  two  principal 
terms  and  figures  which  give  shape  to  the  texL  A  banqueting- 
house  and  a  banner,  though  seemingly  without  natural  connec- 
tion, are  significant  of  facts  and  ideas  which  meet  and  harmonize 
in  the  spiritual  mystery  of  "  Christ  and  the  church." 

I.  In  the  first  place,  the  church  achioioledges  the  gracious  and 
blessed  estate  in  which  she  finds  herself^  and  indicates  the  ag(fiicy 
hy  which  she  was  introduced  to  it.  "  He  brought  me  to  his  bau- 
queting-house. ' ' 

We  would  not  found  a  doctrine  on  so  slender  a  basis  as  a  poeti- 
cal figure,  but  we  cannot  fail  to  observe  the  accordance  between 
the  form  of  speech  here  used  and  th^  teaching  of  Scripture  in 
reference  to  that  efficacious  grace  of  Grod,  which  translates  the 
soul  into  the  kingdom  of  his  dear  Son.  The  love  of  God  is  glo- 
riously displayed  in  making  the  provision  of  salvation,  erecting 
the  banqueting-house,  and  spreading  the  table  with  all  that  de- 
lights the  taste  and  satisfies  the  hunger  of  our  immortal  nature. 
This  was  much,  but  love  took  a  farther  step  when  God  proclaimed 
a  universal  invitation  to  famishing  sinners  to  come  in,  saying : 
' '  My  oxen  and  my  fatlings  are  killed,  and  all  things  are  now 
ready ;  come  to  the  feast. ' ' 

Can  love  go  farther?    Human  love  cannot,  but  God's  can. 


XVII.]  THE  BANQUET  AND  THE   BANNER,  267 

His  table  must  be  furnished  with  guests,  and  when  words  fail 
he  sends  forth  an  effectual  power  which  goes  to  the  delaying  and 
reluctant  creatures,  who,  if  left  to  themselves,  would  "perish 
in  their  sin,"  and  "compels  them  to  come  in."  The  word  is 
scriptural,  and  need  not  alarm  us.  The  compulsion  meant  is 
not  apphed  to  the  body,  nor  to  the  mind,  in  such  a  way  as  to 
impair  its  most  perfect  liberty  of  choice.  The  gracious  influ- 
ence which  Grod  exerts  penetrates,  if  I  may  so  speak,  deeper 
into  human  nature  than  the  will.  It  enlightens  the  eyes  of  the 
understanding  and  renews  the  heart,  and  then  the  will,  accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  its  action,  follows  the  decisions  of  the  judg- 
ment and  the  impulse  of  the  affections.  Thus  drawn  by  gracious 
influence  and  cords  of  love  we  yet  come  freely.  Made  wilKng 
in  the  day  of  his  power,  we  embrace  the  salvation  of  Christ  and 
bow  at  his  feel. 

The  mode  of  this  divine  operation  is  a  mystery.  The  breath- 
ing of  the  Spirit  is  like  the  movement  of  the  wind,  of  which  we 
cannot  tell  whence  it  cometh  and  whither  it  goeth.  No  meta- 
physics can  uncover  the  point  of  contact  between  the  divine  and 
the  human  spirit  which  issues  in  the  soul's  transition  from  its 
native  condition  of  death  to  life  and  joy  in  Christ,  but  the 
blessed  fact  is  certain,  and  is  the  form  of  love  which,  above 
others,  melts  the  heart  and  fills  it  with  adoring  wonder.  The 
element  of  its  peculiar  power  is  that  it  links  the  love  of  Grod 
with  ourselves.  We  admire  that  love  as  providing  salvation, 
and  in  the  catholic  regard  it  has  to  all  the  world ;  and  it  does 
not  appear  altogether  marvellous  that  other  persons  should  be 
the  subjects  of  its  converting  power,  but  the  mystery  of  love  is, 
that  we  in  our  separate  individuality,  we,  in  all  our  demerit  and 
our  sin,  should  be  called  to  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  and  the  em- 
brace of  salvation !     This  mystery  which  we  can  only  refer  to 


268  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

the  sovereign  good  pleasure  of  Grod,  is  that  which  dissolves  the 
heart  in  penitential  tears  and  adoring  thankfulness. 

"  Why  was  I  made  to  hear  thy  voice, 
And  enter  while  there's  room; 
When  thousands  make  a  wretched  choice, 
And  rather  starve  than  come ;" 

is  a  question  \Yhich  many  a  wondering  disciple  has  asked,  and  to 
which  better  answer  was  never  found  than  that  we  have  so  often 
sung  in  the  banqueting-house  of  our  Saviour-King : 

"'Twas  the  same  love  that  spread  the  feast, 
That  sweetly  forced  us  in  : 
Else  we  had  still  refused  to  taste. 
And  perished  in  our  sin." 

The  fervour  of  these  grateful  emotions  is  further  intensified 
by  the  happy  state  and  blessed  experiences  to  which  the  called 
of  God  are  introduced.  The  symbol  of  these  is  the  banqueting- 
house  of  the  church's  adorable  Head  and  Husband.  Of  earthly 
delights  the  scene  and  circumstances  which  the  figure  suggests 
are,  perhaps,  the  highest  type.  Rich  attire,  congenial  associa- 
tions, enchanting  music,  delicious  viands,  and  the  cordial  wel- 
come of  an  esteemed  and  distinguished  host,  present  an  attrac- 
tion which  the  "lovers  of  pleasure"  pronounce  their  "chief 
joy." 

Haman  esteemed  himself  the  happiest  of  mortals,  when,  on 
successive  days,  the  beautiful  queen  of  Ahasuerus  called  him  to 
the  banquet  of  wine  which  she  had  prepared.  But  a  nobler 
than  Esther,  a  greater  than  Solomon  is  here.  The  King  of 
glory  spreads  his  table,  and  opens  his  door,  and  issues  his  invi- 
tations. The  pagan  divinities  were  flxblcd  to  feast  on  ambrosia, 
and  to  drink  nectar ;   and  Milton  describes  the  pleasures  of 


XVIL]  THE  BANQUET  AND  THE  BANNER.  269 

"divine  philosophy"  as  a  "perpetual  feast  of  nectared  sweets, 
where  no  crude  surfeit  reigns."  But  there  is  a  diviner  luxuiy. 
Beyond  the  pleasures  of  taste,  more  pure  and  satisfying  than 
those  of  reason,  are  the  joys  of  our  spiritual  being.  The  sweet- 
est luxury  and  the  fullest  contentment  is  that  of  the  soul,  when 
it  is  "satisfied  with  the  fatness  of  God's  house,  and  drinks  of 
the  river  of  his  pleasures."  This,  in  very  deed,  is  a  "perpe- 
tual feast,"  in  which  satisfaction  is  not  satiety,  but  that  thirst- 
ing no  more  for  other  streams  which  Jesus  promised  to  those 
who  should  drink  the  water  of  life. 

As  no  man  who  has  drunk  old  wine  straightway  desireth  new, 
because  the  old  is  better,  so  with  those  who  have  been  intro- 
duced into  the  gracious  state  of  guests  in  the  house  of  God. 
Worldly  pleasures  become  insipid,  and  the  "pleasures  of  sin" 
are  disgusting ;  and  the  new  nature  craves  and  delights  in  the 
supplies  which  Christ  affords. 

If  from  generals  we  descend  to  particulars,  these  supplies 
consist  in  such  sweet  experiences  as  peace  of  conscience,  com- 
munion with  saints,  the  witnessing  and  sealing  grace  of  the  Com- 
forter, responding  in  the  heart  to  the  fatherly  relation  and  love 
of  God,  the  hope  of  everlasting  life,  and  under  all  these  spiri- 
tual and  heavenly  joys  the  alleviation  of  earthly  sorrows,  and 
the  lightening  of  life's  burdens.  When  we  go  into  the  banquet- 
ing-house  of  Jesus  he  comes  into  our  hearts  with  all  the  train  of 
his  gifts  and  graces,  and  that  sweet  figure  which  represents  him 
as  supping  with  us,  and  we  with  him,  becomes  a  divine  reality. 
Oh,  brethren,  you  know  there  is  a  direct  enjoying  of  Jesus 
Christ,  a  tasting  and  seeing  that  the  Lord  is  gracious,  in  acts  of 
faith,  and  prayer,  and  holy  communion. 

In  a  degree  this  is  the  habitual  experience  of  those  who  have 

come  to  the  saving  knowledge  of  Christ ;  but  many  things  in 
23* 


270  Tiiuni  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

the  imperfection  of  this  probationary  Hfe  tend  to  depress  and 
diminish  these  holy  enjoyments,  and  the  presence  and  urgency 
of  material  things  intercept  the  vision  of  him  "who  is  altoge- 
ther lovely. ' ' 

To  indemnify  us  for  this  loss,  which  in  our  present  condition 
appears  inevitable,  Christ  has  appointed  times  and  seasons  at 
which  he  invites  us  to  special  and  uninterrupted  communion 
with  himself,  and  has  established  ordinances  of  worship  through 
which  the  special  communications  of  his  grace  are  made.  These 
are  resting-places  in  the  weary  journey  of  life  ;  oases  in  the 
sandy  desert,  like  that  to  which  Israel  came  at  Elim,  where 
were  twelve  wells  of  water  from  which  they  slaked  their  thirst, 
and  threescore  and  ten  palm-trees  beneath  whose  grateful  shade 
they  reposed.  This  delight  enjoyed  in  sacramental  ordinances, 
which  represent,  and  seal,  and  give  the  blessing  and  joy  of  sal- 
vation, most  exactly  and  fully  realizes  the  description  of  the  text. 
Then  and  there  it  is  that  the  happy  and  thankful  Christian 
exclaims:  "I  sat  down  under  his  shadow  with  great  delight, 
and  his  fruit  was  sweet  to  my  taste.  He  brought  me  to  the 
banqueting-house,  and  his  banner  over  me  was  love." 

Bunyan,  in  that  wondrous  allegory  which  paints  the  Chris- 
tian's progress  in  its  successive  stages  and  shifting  scenes,  de- 
scribes his  pilgrim  as,  at  one  time,  introduced  to  a  building  which 
he  names  the  "Palace  Beautiful,"  in  which  he  saw  many  won- 
drous sights,  and  was  filled  with  new  and  joyous  experiences. 

His  guides  and  entertainers  were  the  fair  sisters  Prudence, 
Piety,  and  Charity.  He  sat  at  a  table  furnished  with  fat 
things,  and  wine  that  was  well  refined.  At  night  he  slept  in 
the  chamber  of  Peace,  which  opened  toward  the  sun-rising :  and 
when  it  was  morning,  being  conducted  to  the  top  of  the  house, 
and  the  day  being  clear,  he  saw  in  the  distance  "  a  most  pleasant 


XVII.]  THE  BANQUET  AND  THE  BANNER.  271 

mountainous  country,  beautified  with  woods,  vineyards,  fruits 
of  all  sorts,  flowers  also,  with  springs  and  fountains,  very  delec- 
table to  behold. ' '  When  told  that  the  name  of  the  country  was 
Immanuel's  land,  "he  bethought  himself  of  setting  forward, 
and  they  were  willing  he  should."  In  seasons  of  gracious  near- 
ness and  merciful  visitation, — and  most  of  all  in  the  Holy  Sup- 
per— that  feast  of  love, — these  experiences  of  a  present  salva- 
tion and  glimpses  of  the  coming  glory  are  most  largely  enjoyed. 
It  is  here  the  Beloved  of  our  souls  meets  with  us  in  peculiar 
manifestation,  and  utters  those  words  of  freest  welcome — "  I  am 
come  into  my  garden,  my  sister,  my  spouse ;  I  have  gathered 
my  myrrh,  with  my  spice :  I  have  eaten  my  honey-comb  with 
my  honey :  I  have  drunk  my  wine  with  my  milk :  eat,  0  friends ; 
drink,  yea,  drink  abundantly,  0  beloved." 

II.  Called  and  brought  by  his  grace  into  this  estate  of  pecu- 
liar privilege  and  high  spiritual  enjoyment,  of  which  a  banquet- 
ing-house  is  the  symbol,  a  somewhat  different  relation  to  the 
Redeemer  is  expressed  by  the  added  declaration — "  His  banner 
over  me  was  Love. ' ' 

Christ  has  a  banner  as  well  as  a  table,  and  over  all  who  sit 
down  in  his  banqueting-house,  this  ensign  waves.  Like  national 
emblems,  it  too  has  an  inscription.  It  is  but  a  word^  but  that  is 
significant  of  all  that  we  are  concerned  to  know.  ' '  God  is  love, ' ' 
and  "Zoue"  is  written  on  the  banner  of  Jesus.  On  the  flags 
which  our  brave  soldiers  bear  in  th'eir  long  marches,  and  amid 
the  smoke,  and  fire,  and  blood  of  battle-fields,  the  motto  of  the 
Union  and  various  patriotic  legends  are  inscribed  with  curious 
needle-work  or  in  letters  of  gold. 

The  inscription  on  Immanuel's  banner  may  be  conceived  of  as 
written  with  the  blood  which  flowed  from  his  veins  on  the  cross. 
It  is  a  blood-stained  banner :  but  while  it  is  the  blood  of  crushed 


272  TRUTH  IN   LOVE.  [Ser. 

and  conquered  foes  that  "  stains  Ms  raiment,"  it  is  the  blood  of 
the  cross  that  writes  Love  on  the  banner  that  waves  over  his  re- 
deemed people.  If  we  have  bowed  to  his  sovereignty  and  em- 
braced his  salvation,  such  is  our  happy  condition :  "  His  banner 
over  us  is  Love. "  The  use  of  banners  is  natural  to  mankind. 
They  are  no  relic  of  barbarism  ;  but  the  most  civilized  nations 
use  them,  and  are  most  susceptible  to  their  peculiar  power. 
This  resides  in  the  fact  of  their  being  emblems.  They  are  visi- 
ble badges  and  expressions  of  great  ideas  and  soul-thrilling  sen- 
timents. To  the  eye  of  a  patriot,  the  flag  of  his  country  em- 
bodies its  sovereignty  and  grandeur,  and  inspires  enthusiastic 
devotion  to  its  cause,  and  complete  identification  with  its  for- 
tunes. As  an  emblem,  it  is  more  potent  than  cannon  to  over- 
come the  foe,  because  it  acts  with  moral  power  on  a  thousand 
hearts  that  wield  the  implements  of  death. 

In  a  figurative  sense,  Christ  has  a  banner — that  is  to  say,  there 
is  that  in  his  character,  the  nature  of  his  cause,  and  the  relations 
he  sustains  to  the  church  and  the  world,  which  finds  a  fit  ex- 
pression in  such  an  emblem.  Isaiah  speaks  of  Messiah  as  being 
himself  an  ensign  of  the  nations  in  the  latter  days.  "There 
shall  be  a  root  of  Jesse,  which  shall  stand  for  an  ensign  of  the 
people :  to  it  shall  the  Gentiles  seek,  and  his  rest  shall  be  glo- 
rious. Elsewhere  he  is  said  to  have  given  a  banner  to  his  peo- 
ple, and  they  are  called  upon  to  lift  it  up  as  a  rallying-point  to 
all  his  friends,  and  as  an  image  of  terror  to  his  foes. 

1st.  In  the  more  particular  unfolding  of  its  suggestions,  I  re- 
mark, first.  That  this  banner  of  love  is  a  pledge  of  protection  to 
all  who  are  found  beneath  it.  Hitherto  it  has  been  the  happi- 
ness' and  boast  of  American  citizens,  that  wherever  they  wan- 
dered, even  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  among  half-civilized 
nations,  the  flag  of  their  country  was  respected,  and  spread  over 


XVII.]  THE  BANQUET  AND  THE  BANNER.  273 

them  tlie  aegis  of  its  protection.  It  carried  with  it  tlie  power 
and  sovereignty  of  a  mighty  nation ;  and  they  were  safe  beneath 
its  folds.  The  banner  of  the  cross  symbolizes  the  sovereign  rule, 
the  almighty  power  and  the  universal  dominion  of  the  Son  of 
God.  To  him  all  power  in  heaven  and  earth  is  given :  things 
material  and  things  spiritual ;  all  the  agencies  and  forces  of  na- 
ture are  put  under  him,  to  protect  his  church ;  and  heaven  and 
earth  shall  sooner  pass  away  than  one  hair  of  their  head  shall 
be  touched  without  his  permission :  and  come  what  may,  no  fa- 
tal harm  shall  befall  them.  If  in  fighting  his  battles  they  lose 
their  life,  they  shall  find  it  again  in  life  eternal,  and  shall  be  re- 
compensed with  a  martyr's  crown  of  glory. 

This  assurance  of  protection  in  a  world  where  so  many  visible 
dangers  threaten,  is  a  precious  item  in  the  inventory  of  a  be- 
liever's inheritance.  It  guaranties  the  absolute  safety  of  the 
soul,  now  and  for  ever.  It  assures  us  that  no  temptation  shall  over- 
take us  above  that  we  are  able  to  bear,  nor  affliction  overwhelm 
us  with  any  sorrow  which  grace  cannot  assuage,  and  Heaven  can- 
not heal.  When  we  go  down  into  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death,  the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  our  souls  will  be  there,  with 
his  rod  and  his  staffs  the  one  for  a  support,  and  the  other  for  a 
banner  of  defence  against  all  dangers,  real  or  apprehended,  which 
the  departing  spirit  fears.  Under  the  "ensign"  of  our  Re- 
deemer's almighty  power  and  quenchless  love,  we  need  not  stand 
in  dread  of  anything  which  is  to  happen.  Nothing  present  or  to 
come  shall  separate  us  from  its  protection.  In  the  discharge  of 
duty,  and  in  obedience  to  his  will,  we  may  go  anywhere,  do  any- 
thing, run  any  risk,  and  the  invisible  arm  of  an  Almighty  De- 
fender will  be  around  us  still.  A  thousand  shall  fall  at  thy  side, 
and  ten  thousand  at  thy  right  hand  ;  but  deadly  harm  shall  not 
come  nigh  thee. 


274  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

"When  troubles  rise  and  storms  appear, 
There  may  his  children  hide  ; 
God  is  a  strong  pavilion,  where 
He  makes  my  soul  abide." 

Therefore,  let  not  your  heart  be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be 
afraid :  especially  do  not  permit  groundless  anxieties  and  unbe- 
lieving fears  to  hinder  you  in  your  Christian  duties,  or  keep  you 
back  from  daring  or  doing  anything  which  tends  to  further  the 
kingdom  of  your  Lord,  and  redounds  to  his  glory. 

2d.  In  the  second  place,  the  banner  of  love  which  Jesus  Christ 
uplifts  before  and  over  his  people  is  the  symbol  of  the  aggres- 
sive warfare  that  he  is  waging  against  sin  and  Satan,  for  the 
liberation  and  redemption  of  an  enslaved  world. 

National  emblems  have  their  greatest  use  in  time  of  war. 
Carried  at  the  head  of  an  advancing  host,  as  the  soldier  gazes 
upon  the  colours  that  image  the  nation's  power  and  pride,  his 
spirit  kindles  with  patriotic  fire,  and  his  heart  settles  in  fixed 
resolve  that  this  banner  of  beauty  and  glory  shall  not  trail  in  the 
dust,  nor  pass  to  the  hand  of  a  conquering  foe.  The  divinest 
realization  of  these  images  exists  in  the  "  Holy  "War  "  which  is 
waged  by  the  ' '  Captain  of  our  salvation. "  "  The  Lord  is  a  man 
of  war."  When,  with  a  high  hand  and  an  outstretched  arm, 
he  led  forth  his  chosen  people  from  the  house  of  their  bondage, 
he  went  before  them  in  a  pillar  of  cloud  and  fire  :  and  as  the 
tribes  were  marshalled  round  the  tabernacle  in  four  grand  di- 
visions, a  "standard"  bearing  the  names  and  the  insignia  of 
each  was  carried  before  them.  The  display  was  imposing  and 
sublime :  even  Balaam,  though  he  came  to  curse,  was  transported 
thereby  into  a  lofty  strain  of  prophetic  benedictions.  The  visi- 
ble glory  of  the  cloud  and  the  material  ensigns  of  the  tribes  have 
disappeared;  but  Jesus,  the  "Leader  and  Commander"  of  his 


XVII.]  THE  BANQUET  AND  THE  BANNER.  275 

people,  is  going  before  them  still,  and  displaying  to  the  eyes  of 
their  faith  his  banner  of  love.  It  is  the  emblem  of  an  extermi- 
nating warfare  against  sin,  and  of  untold  blessings  and  everlast- 
ing mercy  to  those  who  enroll  themselves  as  his  followers.  Jesus 
is  he  whom,  in  the  far  off  visions  of  faith,  the  dying  Jacob  saw, 
when  he  said — "  The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,  nor 
a  lawgiver  from  between  his  feet  till  Shiloh  come :  and  unto  him 
shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be."  And  Isaiah,  in  those 
later  prophecies  which  unveil  so  much  ot  Zion's  future  glory, 
saw  Messiah  as  a  warrior  coming  from  Edom,  with  dyed  gar- 
ments from  Bozrah,  glorious  in  his  apparel,  and  travelling  in  the 
greatness  of  his  strength. ' '  Mighty  to  save  his  friends,  he  is 
terrible  in  vengeance  upon  his  foes. 

Of  that  sovereign  power  and  universal  dominion  with  which 
the  Father  has  by  right  invested  him,  his  banner  of  love  is  the 
emblem  and  the  pledge  that  his  conquests  shall  go  on  till  in 
fact  as  well  as  in  covenant  ' '  the  heathen  are  given  to  him  for 
his  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  his 
possession. ' '  Like  the  wars  between  Israel  and  their  heathen 
foes,  the  native  dwellers  in  Canaan,  this  is  one  of  extermination. 
It  admits  of  neither  cessation  nor  compromise,  but  must  go  on 
till  there  shall  come  no  more  to  Jerusalem,  the  uncircumcised 
and  the  unclean,  and  the  Canaanite  shall  disappear  from  the  in- 
heritance of  Grod.  As  it  was  between  Amalek  and  Israel  in  the 
desert,  so  it  is  between  Immanuel  and  his  enemies.  Not  only 
were  those  Pagan  foes  chastised  at  the  time,  but  "Moses  built 
an  altar  and  called  the  name  of  it  Jehovah-nissi — the  Lord  my 
banner,  because  the  Lord  had  sworn  that  the  Lord  would  have 
war  with  Amalek  from  generation  to  generation."  The  banner 
under  which  we  fight  was  never  lowered  to  an  enemy.  It  is  in 
the  hand  of  our  mighty  Leader,  who  has  himself  led  captivity 


270  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

captive,  and  planted  it  in  triumph  on  tlie  strongest  hold  of  the 
adversary.  The  subjugation  of  every  foe,  and  the  conquest  of 
every  foot  of  territory  which  rightfully  belongs  to  the  Son  of 
God  is  simply  a  question  of  time.  It  is  foreordained,  it  is  in 
process  of  accomplishment,  and  these  mighty  throes  of  the  na- 
tions do  but  herald  and  hasten  its  coming.  The  year  of  jubilee 
is  approaching ;  the  banner  of  love,  already  planted  on  the  con- 
tinents and  the  islands,  shall  receive  the  adhesion  of  every  tongue, 
and  kindred,  and  "  all* flesh  shall  see  the  salvation  of  our  God." 

3d.  The  third  and  last  suggestion  we  offer  regards  the  rela- 
tion and  duty  of  the  church  and  of  individual  men  to  the  ban- 
ner which  Christ  lifts  up  in  the  sight  of  us  all. 

The  kingly  character  and  office  of  Jesus  powerfully  appeals  to 
the  sentiment  of  loyalty  and  love  in  the  hearts  of  those  who 
have  already  bowed  to  his  rule  and  embraced  his  salvation.  To 
them,  in  a  very  important  sense,  he  entrusts  his  cause  and  his 
honosr  in  the  world.  He  puts  the  blood-stained  banner  of  the 
cross  into  their  hands,  and  bids  them  hold  it  high  and  bear  it 
forward  till  all  the  earth  shall  own  its  sway.  "Thou  hast  given 
a  banner  to  them  that  fear  thee,  that  it  should  be  displayed  be- 
cause of  the  truth."  Accepting  the  trust,  let  us  respond  with 
love  and  holy  courage:  "We  will  rejoice  in  thy  salvation,  and 
in  the  name  of  our  God  we  will  set  up  our  banners."  The  ap- 
peal for  sacrifice  and  service  is  made  to  all  hearts  that  are  loyal 
to  King  Jesus.  You  that  are  called,  and  pardoned,  and  dressed 
in  the  wedding- garment  of  his  righteousness,  and  seated  in  the 
banqueting-house  of  his  love,  will  j^ou  now  take  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance anew,  and  with  a  deeper  consecration  than  ever  maintain 
your  place  in  the  sacramental  host  that  march  to  victory  and 
glory  ?  In  the  ranks  of  this  army  there  is  room,  and  service,  and 
recompensoffor  you  all,  without  respect  to  age,  or  sex,  or  condi^ 


XYIL]  THE  BANQUET  AND  THE  BANNER.  277 

tion.  A  willing  mind  and  a  loyal  heart  is  tlie  only  qualification. 
When  the  followers  of  Jesus,  in  solid  phalanx  and  shining  array, 
thus  devote  themselves  to  his  service,  the  church  will  "look  forth 
as  the  morning,  fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun,  and  terrible 
as  an  army  with  banners. ' ' 

When  we  fall,  let  it  be  with  our  armour  on,  in  the  high  places 
of  the  field,  and  clinging  to  the  standard  of  our  King.  It  is  re- 
lated that  a  French  soldier  who  fell  at  Waterloo  had  grasped  the 
flag  of  his  country  so  tightly  in  death  that  when  it  was  sought 
to  remove  it  its  captor  only  succeeded  by  taking  the  man  and  the 
standard,  colours  and  corpse  together.  Fit  emblem  this  of  the 
Christian  hero's  death.  May  the  like  be  ours  !  From  the  throne 
of  his  glory  Jesus  cries:  "Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I 
will  give  thee  a  crown  of  Hfe."  "  To  him  that  overcometh  will 
I  grant  to  sit  with  me  in  my  throne,  even  as  I  also  overcame, 
and  am  set  down  with  my  Father  in  his  throne. ' ' 

To  those  who  as  yet  sustain  a  difi'erent  relation  to  this  ' '  ban- 
ner of  love,"  I  present  it  as  an  emblem  of  peace  between  God 
and  men,  and  invite  you  "  in  Christ's  stead"  to  enlist  under  it. 
With  precious  blood  in  crimson  lines  Love  is  written  on  its  am- 
ple folds.  By  the  infinite  depth  of  love  divine  it  pleads  with 
you,  gathering  its  tender  memorials  from  the  garden,  the  cross, 
and  the  tomb  !  By  the  pardon,  peace,  and  protection  which  it 
gives  and  guaranties,  by  the  assurance  of  deliverance  from  your 
dangers,  victory  over  your  enemies,  and  ^  abundant  entrance 
into  the  honours  and  joys  of  an  everlasting  kingdom  of  glory, 
you  are  urged  this  day  to  forsake  the  standard  of  rebellion  and 
rally  to  that  of  your  Friend  and  Saviour — the  Son  of  God's  de- 
light, the  adored  of  all  believers. 

There  is  room  for  you  !     Room  in  the  Saviour's  heart,  room 

iji  the  church,  room  at  the  communion-table,  room  in  heaven  at 
24 


278  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

the  marriage-supper  of  the  Lamb.  "Come,  for  all  things  are 
now  ready."  " The  Spirit  and  the  Bride  say,  Come.  And  let 
him  that  heareth  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come. 
And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely." 

If  still  you  hesitate,  let  your  halting  mind  be  decided  by  con- 
sidering that  you  are  absolutely  shut  up  to  the  alternative  of 
voluntarily  accepting  Christ's  "banner  of  love,"  or  of  being 
crushed  by  the  iron  rod  of  his  power  and  wrath.  ' '  Kiss  the 
Son,  lest  he  be  angry,  and  ye  perish  from  the  way,  when  his 
wrath  is  kindled  but  a  little.  Blessed  are  all  they  that  put  their 
trust  in  him." 


XVIII.]  FAITH,  HOPE,  AND  CHARITY.  279 


SERMON   XVIII. 

FAITH,  HOPE,  AND  CHARITY. 

1  Cor.  xiii.  13. — And  note  ahideth  Faith,  Hox>e,  Charity,  these 
three  ;  hut  the  greatest  of  these  is  Charity. 

The  religion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  essentially  inward 
and  spiritual.  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink, 
but  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost" — not 
the  outward  observances  of  worship,  nor  the  outward  acts  of 
morality,  but  those  internal  principles  and  affections  out  of  which 
* '  are  the  issues  of  life. ' '  Human  character  is  not  words  and 
deeds,  but  the  motives  and  spirit  which  prompt  our  speech,  and 
are  embodied  in  our  acts.  The  same  words  may  be  spoken,  and 
the  same  actions  performed  from  different  or  opposite  motives. 
While,  therefore,  the  outward  exhibition  of  Himself  which  a 
person  makes  before  the  world  is,  in  the  main,  a  true  exponent 
of  what  is  in  his  heart,  it  is  not  an  unerring  criterion.  Acts  of 
devotion  and  deeds  of  philanthropy  may  be  performed  without 
•love  either  to  God  or  men,  and  we  cannot  certainly  know  whether 
the  doer  of  them  is  or  is  not  a  Christian.  Character  consists  in 
the  p)^7iciples  which  have  their  seat  in  the  soul,  and  are  the 
spring  and  source  of  conduct.  They  are  the  affections,  desires, 
and  purposes  that  govern  us,  and  which  cannot  be  traced  to 


280  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

anything  deeper  in  our  nature  than  themselves.  For  this  reason 
they  are  called  principles — ^first  elements  and  fundamental  laws 
of  character  and  life.  The  character  of  every  man  is  determined 
by  the  principles,  good  or  bad,  that  control  him :  and  the  Chris- 
tian's character  is  decided  by  the  graces  implanted  and  nurtured 
in  his  soul  by  the  Spirit  of  Grod.  The  infallible  test  which  we 
should  habitually  apply  to  ourselves  is  the  presence  or  absence 
of  those  secret  affections  and  exercises  which  are  revealed  alone 
to  consciousness  and  to  the  Searcher  of  hearts.  Faith,  hope, 
charity,  and  all  the  train  of  gracious  traits,  are  not  so  much  the 
evidence  as  the  essence  of  Christian  character ;  and  it  is  simply 
impossible  that  any  one  should  possess  them  and  yet  be  a  stranger 
to  the  saving  grace  of  God.  They  are  the  image  of  Grod  visibly 
stamped  upon  our  moral  being.  In  the  text,  three  of  these  hid- 
den roots  of  piety  are  grouped  together,  and  assigned  a  pre-emi- 
nence above  all  others.  After  naming  the  graces  of  faith,  hope, 
and  charity,  the  apostle  adds,  with  rhetorical  beauty  and  signifi- 
cant emphasis,  the  limiting  expression — "  these  three,"  intimat- 
ing that  no  more  and  no  other  graces  belonged  to  the  same  class, 
or  deserved  the  like  distinction. 

In  one  aspect,  he  puts  them  all  on  a  level ;  in  another  view, 
he  exalts  charity  above  her  sisters,  faith  and  hope. 

And  this  suggests  the  general  arrangement  we  propose  to  fol- 
low in  this  discourse.  In  the  first  place,  the  apostle  declares 
that  the  principles  or  graces  named,  are  alike  and  equal  in  their 
permanency.     "  Now  abideth  Faith,  Hope,  Charity." 

In  the  second  place,  he  asserts  that  of  these  three  enduring 
elements  of  Christian  experience  and  life,  the  crown  of  pre-emi- 
nent excellence  belongs  to  the  last :  ' '  The  greatest  of  these  is 
Charity." 

1.  Let  us  view  them  first  with  respect  to  the  quality  in  which 


XVIII.  ]  FAITH,   HOPE,  AND  CHARITY.  281 

all  agree,  that  is  to  say,  their  pennanency.  In  the  broadest  and 
most  general  view,  this  is  a  high  commendation.  That  which  is 
short-lived  is  of  comparatively  little  value.  Even  an  object  of 
the  magnitude  and  glory  of  the  sun  would  be  unimportant  if  it 
shone  for  a  day  and  then  went  out  in  eternal  darkness.  One  of 
the  most  effectual  dissuasives  which  the  Bible  brings  to  bear 
against  the  love  of  the  world,  is  derived  from  its  transitory  na- 
ture and  the  shortness  of  human  life :  and  religion  derives  its 
mightiest  enforcement  from  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  the 
eternity  of  its  salvation.  Any  good  thing  is  important  in  pro- 
portion as  it  abides,  and  that  which  endures  for  ever  is  infinitely 
important.  It  is  therefore  no  mean  commendation  which  the 
apostle  bestows  on  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  when  he  tells  us 
that  they  abide.  Furthermore,  that  which  endures  is  presumed 
to  be  excellent  in  its  nature :  in  fact,  endurance  is  in  many  cases 
the  test  of  excellence.  That  which  is  unsubstantial,  shadowy, 
worthless,  is  short-lived.  It  perishes  with  the  using;  it  van- 
ishes away.  The  dross  disappears,  and  is  merged  in  other  sub- 
stances :  the  pure  gold  is  imperishable :  the  fleeting  cloud  is 
driven  with  the  wind,  and  returns  no  more ;  the  mountain  whose 
summit  it  hid  abides  in  everlasting  majesty  and  strength,  and 
the  star  whose  radiance  it  for  a  moment  obstructed,  shines  on 
through  countless  years.  In  like  manner,  this  tiiad  of  moral 
virtues  and' Christian  graces  assert  their  superior  excellence  by 
enduring  in  the  freshness  of  their  vitality  throughout  all  the 
stages  of  Christian  experience,  and  dispensations  of  the  church, 
and  the  changes  of  time. 

In  this  connexion  they  are  in  contrast  with  the  miraculous 
gifts  and  powers  bestowed  on  the  church  in  the  apostolic  age. 
Through  the  supernatural  influence  of  the  Spirit,  ministers  and 

members  of  the  church  were  enabled  to  speak  with  other  tongues, 
24* 


282  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

to  prophesy,  to  heal  the  sick,  and  do  many  things  of  hke  nature. 
The  use  of  these  gifts  was  to  secure  for  the  new  religion  and  the 
infant  church  a  speedy  and  secure  establishment  in  the  world. 
They  were  of  great  importance  for  that  time,  and  were,  more- 
over, of  a  showy  character,  visible  and  impressive  in  their  exer- 
cise. They  might  be,  and  in  some  instances — as  that  of  Simon 
the  sorcerer — were  coveted  for  selfish  ends.  They  did  not  enter 
deeply  into  the  inherent  constitution  and  essential  life  of  the 
church ;  and  though  commonly  exercised  by  Christians  and 
Christian  ministers,  they  were  not  an  infallible  index  of  piety. 
Paul  puts  the  case  as  conceivable  and  possible  that  a  person 
might  ' '  speak  with  tongue  of  men  and  of  angels, ' '  and  yet  lack 
the  more  vital  elements  of  Christian  character.  Being  thus  su- 
perficial in  their  relation  to  the  church,  and  temporary  in  their 
use,  they  passed  away :  and  now  there  is  no  man  who  speaks 
with  other  than  his  native  tongue,  except  as  he  learns  it,  and  no 
worker  of  miracles  is  found  in  the  church.  Already  the  time 
has  come  of  which  the  apostle  spoke :  "  Whether  there  be  pro- 
phecies, they  shall  fail;  whether  there  be  tongues,  they  shall 
cease ;  whether  there  be  knowledge,  it  shall  vanish  away. ' '  But 
the  passing  away  of  these  leaves  the  deeper  foundations  of  Chris- 
tian experience  undisturbed.  "Now" — that  these  things  are 
gone — "abideth  faith,  hope,  charity."  They  enter  into  the 
vital  essence  of  Christian  character,  and  endure  for  ever. 

We  may  also  view  the  permanency  of  these  gracious  principles 
in  contrast  with  the  external  ordinances  of  worship  and  institu- 
tions of  the  church  which  have  undergone  great  changes  already, 
and  must  needs  be  subject  to  yet  further  mutations,  as  the  church 
advances  to  her  final  condition.  The  Old  Testament  ritual  of 
worship,  having  fulfilled  its  purpose  as  a  prophetic  shadow  of 
better  things  to  come,  has  been  annulled  and  disi)laced  by  the 


XVIII.]  FAITH,   HOPE,  AND  CHARITY.  283 

rites  of  our  Christian  worship.  Like  a  dilapidated  bui4ding  or  a 
faded  garment,  the  Jewish  forms  "decayed  and  waxed  old," 
and  in  the  time  of  the  apostle,  were  "ready  to  vanish  away." 
They  have  now  departed ;  but  the  radical  principles  and  vital 
spirit  of  piety  which  were  embodied  in  those  forms,  and  after- 
wards, for  freer  action  and  wider  expansion,  were  transferred  to 
the  light  and  spiritual  worship  of  Christianity,  still  live.  The 
temple,  the  altar,  the  victim,  the  priest,  the  offerings  to  God, 
and  the  gifts  to  man,  which  the  law  prescribed,  are  seen  no 
more ;  but  the  faith  which  brought  the  sacrifice,  and  the  hope 
that  looked  and  longed  for  a  coming  Redeemer,  and  the  charity 
that  showed  pity  for  the  poor,  in  those  early  days  of  revelation, 
still  abide,  and  will  never  fail  while  God  has  a  dwelling  on  the 
earth.  "Faith,  Hope,  Charity,"  these  three  graces  may,  like 
the  Trinity  of  Persons  in  the  Godhead,  have  had  a  progressive 
revelation  in  Scripture,  and  an  advancing  power  in  the  church ; 
but  there  never  was  a  time  in  the  past,  as  there  never  will  be  in 
the  future,  when  piety  could  be  cast  in  any  other  mould,  or  dis- 
played in  any  other  forms.  To  the  end  of  time,  and  under  all 
the  changes  of  outward  condition  which  the  church  may  undergo, 
the  people  of  God  will  believe^  and  liope^  and  love ;  and  all  the 
more  so  as  the  soul  and  the  chuich  approach  the  perfection  of 
the  heavenly  state. 

There  is  yet  another  contrast,  which  may,  perhaps,  be  admitted 
in  this  connexion,  between  the  graces  named  in  the  text,  and 
some  other  forms  and  phases  of  Christian  experience,  which  pe- 
culiarly belong  to  certain  stages  of  the  believer's  progress,  and 
are  affected  by  his  outward  conditions.  The  babe  in  Christ,  and 
the  veteran  soldier  of  the  cross  look  on  the  Christian  life  from 
widely  different  points  of  view,  and,  in  many  respects,  with  dif- 
ferent feelings.     One  is  warm  with  the  glow  of  a  new  experience, 


284  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

and  hapj^ily  ignorant  of  the  deep  tribulation  through  which  the 
soul  must  enter  the  kingdom  of  God.  Human  imperfection 
mingles  with  and  tinges  not  a  little  of  the  convert's  first  experi- 
ences, and  thus  necessitates  a  series  of  changes  in  views  and  feel- 
ings that  are  often  wondered  at  and  lamented  as  a  departure 
from  the  soul's  first  love,  when  they  are  only  its  gradual  settling 
down  from  trust  in  flitting  frames  and  feelings  upon  the  immovable 
foundations  of ' '  fiiith,  hope,  and  charity. ' '  The  aged  and  deeply- 
experienced  Christian  feels  that  he  has  both  lost  and  gained  in 
many  respects.  He  has  parted  with  both  hopes  and  apprehen- 
sions that  are  incidental  to  the  commencement  of  a  new  life ; 
and  he  has  gained  in  strength  of  religious  principle  and  stability 
of  experience.  The  faith  whose  first  trembling  exercise  was  the 
embrace  of  Jesus  Christ  for  pardon  and  peace,  has  strengthened 
and  grown  to  be  "the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  and  the 
evidence  of  things  not  seen,"  taking  into  its  wide  survey  the 
whole  firmament  of  revelation.  The  hope  which,  at  its  first  ris- 
ing in  the  heart,  had  primary  regard  to  the  negative  good  of  es- 
cape from  wrath,  has  come  to  look  for  the  positive  blessings 
promised  to  the  faithful,  and  to  wait  with  patience  for  their 
enjoyment. 

And  love,  if  it  has  lost  somewhat  of  its  freshness,  has  gained 
in  steadiness,  and  depth,  and  practical  fruits.  Beneath  all  the 
changes  and  disturbances  that  take  place  upon  the  surface  of 
our  natural  feehngs  and  rehgious  sensibilities,  these  radical  prin- 
ciples of  the  Christian  life  abide  and  gather  strength.  Even 
those  storms  of  sorrow  and  temptation  which  sweep  away  our 
pleasant  thoughts  and  feelings,  root  these  principles  the  more 
firmly  in  our  souls,  and  we  are  gaining  ground  even  when  in  fear 
of  losing  every  thing. 

If  we  pass  over  that  wider  interval  which  separates  the  expe- 


XVIII.]  FAITH,  HOPE,  AND   CHARITY.  285 

rience  of  earth  from  that  of  heaven,  it  is  certain  that  much  that 
now  enters  largely  into  our  exercises  will  be  left  behind.  All  of 
religious  experience  that  supposes  "  temptation  without  and  cor- 
ruption within,"  all  that  is  peculiar  to  a  state  of  probation,  toil, 
and  suffering,  will  disappear  with  its  cause  and  occasion.  In 
that  blessed  state  from  which  pain,  and  death,  and  every  form 
of  evil  are  banished,  the  passive  virtues  of  patience  and  long- 
suffering  will  not  be  in  requisition.  And  where  there  is  no  sin 
there  will  be  no  penitence,  and  those  who  have  no  unsupplied 
wants  will  feel  no  need  of  prayer. 

Yet  piety,  in  its  absolute  essence,  will  be  the  same  in  heaven 
as  it  is  on  earth,  and  there  is  a  sense  in  which  not  love  only,  but 
faith  and  hope  will  flourish  in  immortal  strength.  In  this  mani- 
fold sense  do  these  graces  abide,  the  life,  adornment,  and  bless- 
ing of  the  soul,  the  seal  of  Grod's  children,  the  mark  of  the  true 
church,  when  dispensations  of  religion  have  changed,  and  mira- 
culous gifts  have  disappeared,  and  the  exercises  of  an  immature 
experience  have  been  displaced  by  the  completeness  of  the  per- 
fect man  in  Jesus  Christ.  They  are  the  safest  as  well  as  the 
best  treasure  a  man  can  possess.  All  else  we  have  may  be  irre- 
coverably lost.  Our  property  may  make  to  itself  wings  and  fly 
away,  our  health  may  fail,  our  reputation  may  be  tarnished,  our 
friends  may  withdraw  their  affection  or  go  to  their  long  home. in 
the  grave.  If  our  happiness  is  bound  up  in  these  things,  we 
may  in  a  moment  be  impoverished  and  undone.  But  if  the 
Spirit  of  God  dwell  in  us,  and  attest  his  presence  by  the  pre- 
cious fruits  of  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  nothing  present  or  to 
come  shall  rob  us  of  our  portion. 

Under  every  change  of  outward  condition,  amid  social  and 
political  agitations  which  shake  or  subvert  the  "foundations  of 
many  generations,"  and  even  under  the  invasion  and  stroke  of 


286  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

death  wHch  penetrates  to  tlie  ' '  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and 
spirit,"  these  vital  graces  abide,  inwi'ought  with  the  moral  na- 
ture and  inseparable  from  it  for  ever. 

Of  which  truth  the  obvious  application  is,  that  we  should  cul- 
tivate these  imperishable  virtues  which  of  themselves  can  bless 
the  soul,  and  of  which  nothing  in  life,  death,  or  eternity  can  de- 
prive as. 

2.  Exalting  "these  three/'  above  all  other  graces,  the  apos- 
tle makes  an  election  of  one  from  among  the  rest,  and  puts  the 
crown  of  supreme  excellence  on  the  head  of  charity.  They  all 
abide,  and  they  are  all  great,  but  "the  greatest  of  these  is 
charity. ' ' 

A  parallel  to  this  we  have  in  the  intercourse  of  our  Lord  with 
his  twelve  disciples.  He  loved  them  all,  but  bestowed  special 
privileges  and  honours  on  "Peter,  and  James,  and  John." 
These  three  were  with  him  when  he  raised  the  daughter  of 
Jairus  from  the  dead,  in  the  glory  of  his  transfiguration,  and  in 
the  hour  of  his  deepest  agony  in  the  garden.  Yet  in  this  inner 
and  selectest  circle  was  the  one  disciple  "whom  he  loved,"  and 
whose  head  reposed  on  his  bosom,  in  nearest  intimacy  and  holi- 
est afiection.  And  it  helps  our  parallel  to  remember  that  this 
favoured  disciple  was,  above  the  rest  and  above  other  men,  the 
apostle  of  love,  the  incarnation  and  pattern  of  that  divine  cha- 
rity to  which  the  apostle  gives  the  pre-eminence.  It  is  not  for 
us  to  question  this  pronounced  judgment  of  inspiration,  and  all 
we  may  properly  do  is  to  inquire  into  its  grounds  and  reasons, 
so  far  as  they  may  be  gathered  from  the  teachings  of  Scripture 
and  the  nature  of  the  thing. 

The  whole  chapter  is  in  praise  of  charity,  whose  excellence  the 
apostle  exhibits  by  expatiating  at  length  and  in  great  beauty  of 
language  on  its  precious  fruits,  and  by  giving  it  the  preference, 


XVIII.]  FATTH,  HOPE,  AND  CHARITY.  287 

not  only  over  supernatural  gifts  and  miraculous  powers,  but  over 
other  Christian  graces.  The  climax  of  his  encomium  is  reached 
when  he  assigns  it  a  higher  place  than  the  noble  graces  of  faith 
and  hope.  It  is  greater  than  these.  He  not  only  implies  but 
affirms  that  these  are  great,  and  all  Scripture  bears  witness  to 
the  same  point. 

In  one  place  he  groups  them  all  together,  describing  each  by 
its  peculiar  fruit,  remembering  without  ceasing,  and  with  grati- 
tude to  Grod  "  the  work  of  faith,  and  labour  of  love,  and  patience 
of  hope"  which  were  seen  in  his  Thessalonian  converts.  A 
great  many  very  weighty  and  very  delightful  things  are  said  of 
hope.  Believers  are  ' '  begotten' '  thereto  by  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus,  and  in  the  regeneration  of  their  own  souls.  The  ' '  God 
of  hope' '  first  inspires  this  divine  aifection  in  their  minds,  and 
then  employs  it  as  an  instrument  of  sanctification  to  fit  them  for 
dwelling  with  the  Lord,  which  is  the  object  of  their  hope.  On 
this  stormy  sea  of  life,  where  they  are  bufi"eted  by  the  waves  of 
temptation  and  sorrow,  Christians  "are  saved  by  hope,"  which 
is  an  anchor  of  the  soul  both  sure  and  steadfast.  It  is  a  pre- 
cious grace,  but  charity  is  greater.  The  apostle  goes  further, 
and  gives  it  the  preference  even  to  faith,  which  performs  an  office 
so  peculiar  in  the  salvation  of  thie  soul,  and  of  whose  power  and 
working  the  Scriptures  have  so  much  to  say. 

The  followers  of  Christ  are  named  believers  from  their  faith. 
Faith  receives  Christ  for  justification,  and  is  the  radical  grace 
which  sets  even  love  in  motion.  AVe  believe  before  we  love,  and 
does  not  the  apostle  tell  us  that  "  faith  workcth  by  love?" 

Faith  is  the  root  principle  of  the  Christian  life,  the  hand  by 
which  we  receive  Christ  for  pardon,  and  the  bond  of  union  which 
keeps  the  soul  in  contact  with  the  sanctifying  power  of  the  cross. 
We  are  justified  by  faith,  we  stand  by  faith,  we  walk  by  faith, 


288  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

and  this  is  the  victory  that  overconieth  the  world,  even  our  faith. 
One  of  the  longest  chapters  of  the  New  Testament  is  an  elabo- 
rate commendation  of  faith,  based  on  the  example  of  great  be- 
lievers in  the  ages  past.  The  eleventh  of  Hebrews  is  longer 
than  this  thirteenth  of  Corinthians ;  yet,  after  all,  and  in  ex- 
press language,  the  apostle  declares  that  love  "is  greater  than 
faith."  How  and  why  this  is,  is  an  interesting  and  legitimate 
inquiry. 

1st.  The  first  consideration  that  tends  to  enlighten  the  subject 
is  derived  from  the  intrinsic  nature  of  love  as  an  affection  of  the 
mind.  It  contains  more  elements  of  moral  and  spiritual  excel- 
lence than  either  faith  or  hope.  It  more  directly  and  deeply  in- 
volves the  exercises  of  the  heart  than  faith,  and  it  is  more  dis- 
interested than  hope,  which  expects  and  desires  future  good. 
Faith  believes  what  Grod  reveals,  and  hope  looks  for  what  God 
promises.  Each  is  a  moral  virtue,  and  well-pleasing  to  Grod,  but 
neither  nor  both  together  contain  so  much  of  what  is  all  accept- 
able to  God,  and  like  God,  as  love.  In  God  there  is  neither  faith 
nor  hope.  The  one  is  incompatible  with  his  knowledge,  and  the 
other  with  his  infinite  and  perfect  bliss.  He  does  not  beheve : 
he  knows.  He  does  not  hope  for  anything,  for  he  possesses  all 
things ;  but  ' '  God  is  love,  and  he  that  dwelleth  in  love  dwelleth 
in  God,  and  God  in  him."  The  completest  image  of  divinity 
which  the  soul  of  man  can  receive  is  the  inspiration  of  that  love 
which  abides  infinitely  and  for  ever  in  the  Godhead.  Add  to 
this  that  faith  and  hope  are  but  organs  of  reception,  hands  we 
stretch  out  to  take  the  blessings  which  come  to  us  from  above 
and  from  afar,  while  love  flows  forth  in  generous  admiration  of 
another's  excellence,  or  in  sympathetic  ministries  to  his  griefs 
and  needs,  or  rises  in  spontaneous  adoration  of  the  uncreated 
and  infinite  holiness  and  beauty  of  the  Lord.     It  would  thus  ap- 


XVIII.]  FAITH,  HOPE,  AND  CHARITY.  289 

pear  that  in  its  inherent  nature  love  is  a  more  excellent  attribute 
of  character  than  either  faith  or  hope. 

2d.  In  the  second  place  love  is  the  greatest,  because  it  is  the 
germ  and  principle  of  all  moral  and  religious  duties.  This  can- 
not be  said  of  faith  and  hope,  or  of  any  other  virtue  of  Chris- 
tian character  or  grace  of  the  Spirit.  Thej^  do  not  contain  love, 
but  love  contains  them,  as  the  apostle  intimates  in  saying  that 
' '  Charity  believeth  and  hopeth  all  things. ' '  Love  nurtures 
every  other  grace,  and  prompts  to  the  discharge  of  every  duty  we 
owe  either  to  God  or  men.  It  is  the  genial  atmosphere  and  sun- 
shine in  which  the  graces  grow  and  flourish.  A  soul  completely 
and  absolutely  subjected  to  the  control  of  love  would  be  impelled 
spontaneously  to  the  performance  of  every  act  which  the  Divine 
law  requires  to  be  done  to  ourselves,  to  others,  or  to  God.  Love 
is  the  substance  of  both  tables  of  the  law.  It  comprehends  all 
morality  and  all  religion.  There  is  not  one  particular  belonging 
to  each  which  has  not  its  root  in  this  divine  affection,  which  re- 
strains from  all  evil  and  prompts  all  goodness. 

To  the  inquiring  lawyer  Jesus  said,  "Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with 
all  thy  mind.  This  is  the  first  and  great  commandment.  And 
the  second  is  like  unto  it.  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thy- 
self. On  these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  law  and  the 
prophets."  The  entire  revelations  of  God,  in  law,  and  pro- 
phecy^ and  gospel,  by  Moses  and  by  Christ,  in  so  far  as  they 
bear  on  human  dutj'^,  are  comprised  and  condensed  into  the  sin- 
gle element  of  love.  Eden,  Sinai,  Calvary  utter  the  same  voice. 
Supreme  love  to  God,  complacent  love  of  the  brethren,  forgiv- 
ing love  of  our  enemies,  and  benevolent  love  to  all  our  kind,  is  the 
' '  whole  duty  of  man. ' '    To  this  grace  of  the  Christian  heart  must 

therefore  be  assigned  the  crown  of  an  unquestioned  supremacy. 
25 


290  TRUTH  IN  LOVE.  [Ser. 

3d.  In  the  third  place,  its  right  to  this  pre-eminence  is  esta- 
blished by  the  peculiar  difficulties  which  its  exercise  involves. 
There  are  difficulties  which  impede  the  exercise  of  faith  and  de- 
pressing influences  with  which  hope  has  to  contend.  But  neither 
of  them  is  beset  with  so  many  and  so  great  impediments  as  love. 

As  directed  towards  God,  there  is,  indeed,  nothing  to  hinder 
its  exercise  but  the  native  alienation  of  our  hearts  from  what  is 
good.  God  is  infinitely  worthy  of  our  supreme  and  constant 
affection,  and  every  act  of  his  providence  and  gift  of  his  grace 
heightens  his  claim  to  our  love.  But  the  case  is  different  in 
that  other  and  wide  sphere  of  duty  in  which  it  is  not  God  but 
men  that  claim  our  love.  Its  exercise  is  exceedingly  difficult 
and  continually  obstructed  by  impediments  without  and  within. 
Our  own  selfishness  is  an  antagonistic  force  that  tends  to  repress 
and  quench  love  and  to  dry  up  the  fountains  of  all  active  sympa- 
thy and  friendship.  It  costs  time,  and  thought,  and  trouble, 
and  money,  to  give  our  love  expression  and  make  it  effective  in 
promoting  the  happiness  of  our  neighbours  and  brethren.  If  it 
overcomes  these  opposing  influences,  its  power  is  great  and  its 
excellence  is  demonstrated.  And  while  the  selfishness  of  our 
natures  is  ever  a  clogging  weight  on  the  wings  of  charity,  there 
is  much  in  our  relations  to  others  and  our  circumstances  in  life 
that  tends  to  chill  the  ardour  of  our  affection,  and  which,  unless 
it  be  firmly  resisted,  will  end  in  making  us  thoroughly  selfish,  and 
in  shutting  us  up  within  the  narrow  sphere  of  our  own  personal 
interests.  The  persons  who  claim  our  love  are  imperfect ;  they 
may  have  glaring  faults ;  they  slight  or  seem  to  slight  us.  The 
multitude  around  us  rush  on  in  pursuit  of  their  own  objects,  re- 
gardless of  ours,  and  perhaps  willing  to  sacrifice  our  interests 
to  their  own.  In  such  circumstances  I  need  not  tell  you  it  is 
hard  to  maintain  love  in  vigorous  and  unabated  activity  and  fer- 


XVIII.]  FAITH,  HOPE,  AND  CHARITY.  291 

vour.  If  it  triumph  over  such  impediments,  and  live  in  the 
midst  of  these  chilhng  damps,  its  mighty  power  is  proved,  and  its 
title  to  the  throne  among  the  graces  is  well  established. 

4th.  This  title  has  a  further  and  fourth  support  in  the  fact 
that  love,  in  its  obligation  and  the  sphere  of  its  exercise,  is  less 
affected  than  other  graces  by  the  changing  relations  and  condi- 
tion of  men.     Love  is  the  law  alike  of  fallen  and  unfallen  crea- 
tures, of  sinners  who  are  in  process  of  redemption,  and  of  "  the 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect."     The  same  cannot  be  said  of 
faith,  or  hope,  or  patience ;  certainly  not,  in  the  same  unquali- 
fied sense.     There  is  a  time  coming  in  the  experience  of  the  be-  i 
liever  when  faith  will  be  changed  to  sight,  and  hope  be  lost  in 
fruition,  and  so  far  both  will  cease.     In  heaven  they  will  not  be, 
as  they  are  on  earth,  the  characteristic  attributes  of  the  Chris- 
tian's condition,  while  the  only  change  in  love  will  be  its  wider 
range,  deeper  intensity,  and  more  perfect  joy.     Love  is  the  law  I 
of  angels,  it  was  the  law  of  Paradise ;  it  is  the  law  of  the  church  / 
militant,  and  will  be  that  of  the  church  triumphant, 

"  Where  faith  and  hope  are  known  no  more, 
But  saints  for  ever  love." 

On  such  grounds  as  these  the  supremacy  of  love  is  claimed  and 
justified.     With  two  applications  we  leave  the  subject. 

1.  The  first  is  in  the  form  of  inquiry,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
self-examination.  Has  love  the  practical  ascendency  in  our 
hearts  which  the  apostle  assigns  to  it  in  the  ideal  character  which 
he  depicts?  Is  this  theory  of  the  graces  actually  embodied  in 
our  lives?  Is  love  the  greatest  of  our  graces?  Is  it  "  the  bond 
of  perfectness ' '  that  ties  the  robe  of  Christian  virtues  about  us, 
and  arrays  the  church  in  the  "beautiful  garments"  of  salvation? 
Does  "brotherly  love  "  continue?    Docs  it  "abound?"    Does 


292  TRUTH  IN  LOVE. 

it  break  down  the  barriers  of  a  cold  selfishness,  and  unchristian 
alienations,  and  wicked  resentments?  It  is  a  possible  thing, 
that  instead  of  being  the  greatest,  it  may  be  about  the  least  of 
our  virtues.  The  amount  of  our  love  is  the  measure  of  our  re- 
ligion. 

2.  Our  second  application  is  that  of  the  apostle:  "Follow 
after  charity."  It  is  susceptible  of  increase,  and  needs  cultiva- 
tion. And  because  of  its  supreme  excellence,  we  shall  do  wisely 
to  concentrate  our  desires  and  efforts  upon  it.  If  it  grows,  every 
other  grace  and  duty  will  flourish  :  and  it  will  grow,  if  your  life 
is  one  of  communion  with  Grod,  of  imitation,  of  Christ,  and  of 
active  endeavours  to  do  good.  The  grace  of  God  in  our  redemp- 
tion is  the  grand  argument  for  the  love  of  the  brethren,  and  of 
all  mankind.  "Beloved,  let  us  love  one  another,  for  love  is  of 
God.  And  every  one  that  loveth  is  born  of  God,  and  knoweth 
God.     He  that  loveth  not,  knoweth  not  God ;  for  God  is  love." 


THE  LAW  OP  HUMAN  PROGRESS.  293 


XIX. 

THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  PROaRESS  IN  ITS  RELATION 
TO  THEOLOaY. 

An  Address  before  the  Society  of  Inquiry  of  the  Wes- 
tern Theological  Seminary,  delivered  in  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Allegheny,  April  15,  1862. 

To  the  student  of  theology  and  the  minister  of  the  gospel, 
no  subject  can  be  of  equal  importance  with  the  absolute  truth 
and  certainty  of  the  doctrines  which  are  taught  from  the  Pro- 
fessor's chair,  and  delivered  from  the  pulpit ;  and  no  questions 
of  our  day  are  more  keenly  debated  or  more  profoundly  interest- 
ing than  those  which,  in  one  relation  or  another,  concern  this 
fundamental  position.  Are  the  elements  of  theology  fixed  or 
fluctuating  ?  Is  it,  like  other  departments  of  human  knowledge, 
a  progressive  science? 

Are  the  Scriptures  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice? If  this  be  conceded,  then  has  their  sense  been  so  far  as- 
certained as  to  determine  and  for  ever  fix  the  essential  and  con- 
trolling articles  of  religious  faith ;  or,  in  the  progress  of  learning 
and  enlightenment,  are  we  to  look  for  such  an  insight  into  their 
"hidden  mysteries"  as  may  require  the  modification,  and  even 

involve  the  subversion  and  relinquishment  of  existing  doctrines 
26* 


294  TRUTH  IN  LOVE. 

and  systems?  Or,  denying  the  sufficiency  and  supreme  authority 
of  Scripture,  are  its  teachings  to  be  supplemented  and  explained 
by  the  oracles  of  reason?  and  its  plainest  utterances  to  be  ac- 
cepted or  condemned,  according  as  they  commend  themselves  or 
not  to  the  judgment  and  moral  nature  of  men?  The  vital  im- 
portance of  questions  like  these,  and  the  zeal  with  which  they 
are  mooted  in  the  religious  world,  have  suggested  as  the  particu- 
lar topic  of  this  address,  Tlie  law  of  human  progress  in  its  rela- 
tion to  theology. 

This  law,  like  most  others,  has  both  its  uses  and  abuses.  By 
some,  its  announcement  will  be  thought  to  savour  of  rationalism 
and  heresy.  In  their  view,  theology  is  so  completely  superna- 
tural, and  so  fixed  and  absolute  in  its  form,  as  embodied  in  a 
divine  revelation,  that  no  law  of  human  progress  can  reach  it, 
or  leave  any  trace  upon  it  whatever.  In  these,  the  animus  of 
theological  conservatism  is  commendable,  and  close  of  kin  to 
that  holding  fast  "the  form  of  sound  words"  which  is  com- 
manded as  a  Christian  duty ;  yet  the  danger  is  possible  of  stick- 
ing in  the  shell, — that  is  to  say,  in  the  human  form  and  expres- 
sion of  a  doctrine, — and  of  losing  the  kernel  of  truth.  By  an- 
other class,  this  law  is  hailed  with  delight.  It  breaks  all  fetters, 
is  the  solvent  of  all  difficulties,  and  opens  before  the  theological 
explorer  an  unlimited  region,  over  which  he  can  ramble  at  will, 
-  ever  learning,  and  never  able  to"  come  to  the  knowledge  of  posi- 
tive and  final  truth.  The  acquisition  of  to-day  is  displaced  by 
that  of  to-morrow,  instead  of  serving  as  a  foundation  on  which 
to  rear  a  structure  which  shall  never  decay,  nor  require  to  be 
rebuilt  or  remodelled.  We  hope  to  make  it  appear  both  that 
the  extreme  fear  and  caution  of  theological  conservatives  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  rash  confidence  of  radical  progressives  on  the 
other,  have  no  warrant  in  the  law  of  human  progress,  when 


THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  PROGRESS.  295 

rightly  understood  and  fairly  applied  to  the  subject  of  revealed 
theology. 

Between  a  right  and  sound  conservatism  which  holds  fast  that 
which  is  good,  and  the  spirit  of  progress  which,  in  its  experi- 
mental efforts  to  increase  the  sum  of  human  knowledge,  "proves 
all  things  "  by  a  candid  examination,  there  is  and  can  be  no  proper 
antagonism ;  they  both  are  grounded  in  our  intellectual  and  moral 
nature,  and  are  alike  and  equally  necessary  to  any  real  advance- 
ment in  knowledge,  or  to  any  improvement  in  the  condition  of 
mankind.  If  the  truth  already  ascertained  be  not  adhered  to, 
the  mind  is  adrift  on  a  sea  of  uncertainties,  blown  about  by  every 
wind  of  doctrine  ;  and  if  there  be  no  feeling  after  the  unknown, 
nor  tentative  handling  of  the  untried,  the  stock  of  human  ideas 
\n\]  not  be  increased,  and  the  intellect  of  successive  generations 
will  never  get  beyond  the  limits  which  the  thinking  of  the  past 
has  established.  It  is  only  in  their  abuse  and  extravagance  that 
the  spirit  of  conservatism  and  that  of  progress  come  into  colli- 
sion, and  are  to  be  feared  and  resisted.  The  boasted  advance 
of  theological  science  in  our  times  is  one  of  the  boldest  and  most 
seductive  phases  of  unbelief  It  is  thoroughly  radical  and  de- 
structive ;  not  building  on  foundations  already  laid  and  tested, 
and  thus,  in  the  sense  of  Paul,  "going  on  to  perfection,"  but 
tearing  them  up,  placing  them  in  new  relations,  or  casting  them 
aside,  as  seems  good  to  the  builders  on  the  tower  of  modern  in- 
fidelity. Some  of  them,  in  justification  of  an  attempt  which  im- 
plies the  ignorance  and  childhood  of  past  ages,  plead  the  uncer- 
tain and  feeble  hold  which  the  most  fundamental  doctrines  of 
Christianity  now  have  on  the  minds  of  men.  ' '  The  brave  and 
honest  men  of  the  church,"  complacently  assumes  one  of  the 
exponents  of  liberal  Christianity,*  "are  seekers  after  fixed  truth, 
*  Dr.  Bellows. 


296  TllUTH   IN  LOVE. 

rather  than  possessors  of  it.  .  .  .  The  theological  mind  of  the 
world  is  actiiall^^j  and  by  reason  of  a  change  in  human  circum- 
stances, in  an  unsettled  state. ' '  From  his  point  of  view,  nothing 
is  apparent  but  ' '  the  tremulous  fluid  into  which  the  old  theolo- 
gies have  dissolved."  As,  according  to  a  certain  theory  of  the 
physical  universe,  it  has  been  evolved  from  a  nebulous  and  va- 
poury substance  by  the  action  of  natural  laws,  and  has  at  length 
assumed  consistency  and  definite  shape,  so  it  is  expected  that 
the  fragmentary  and  fugitive  elements  into  which  the  beliefs  of 
the  past  have  been  dashed,  in  an  age  of  free  thought  and  ad- 
vancing intelligence,  will  after  a  while  crystallize  in  solid  forms, 
and  admit  of  a  logical  statement. 

We  might  join  issue  with  this  writer  and  the  whole  school  of 
progressives,  on  the  question  of  fact  as  to  the  existing  condition 
of  religious  belief,  and  show  reason  for  thinking  that  the  doubt 
and  uncertainty  they  complain  of  is  mainly  confined  to  themselves. 
We  might  disclose  to  them  a  region  where  the  sun  shines  in 
unclouded  brightness,  and  no  "eclipse,"  or  even  "suspense" 
of  faith  is  occasioned  by  the  mists  and  vapours  which  ascend 
from  the  pride  of  man's  unsanctified  heart,  and  from  the  arro- 
gance of  that  reason  which  believes  nothing  on  the  mere  testi- 
mony of  Grod.  But  without  urging  that  the  case  with  the  theo- 
logical world  is  not  by  any  means  so  bad  as  it  is  represented,  we 
are  constrained  to  dissent  entirely  from  the  assumption  which 
underlies  all  these  speculations.  Admitting,  as  is  done  by  the 
school  to  which  reference  is  made,  that  the  Bible  contains  a 
revelation  from  God  to  teach  mankind  the  way  of  salvation,  it 
appears  to  us  incredible  that  its  fundamental  doctrines  should 
still  be  unknown,  or  be  so  inadequately  understood  and  stated, 
that  future  discoveries  in  the  field  of  Scripture  might  require 
our  present  knowledge  and  beliefs,  either  to  be  discarded  as 


THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  PROGRESS.  297 

falsehoods,  or  sloughed  off  as  antiquated  and  useless  notions 
whenever  the  church  and  the  world  shall  emerge  into  a  higher 
life  and  a  clearer  light. 

The  law  of  progress,  on  which  so  great  reliance  is  placed  for 
discrediting  the  old  and  catholic  faith  of  the  church,  does  not 
stand  in  exactly  the  same  relation  to  theology  as  to  other  depart- 
ments of  knowledge,  and  the  true  analogies  it  suggests  rather 
support  than  militate  against  the  permanence  and  certainty  of 
all  the  foundation  truths  of  rehgion,  as  these  are  apprehended 
by  common  and  candid  readers  of  the  Scriptures. 

In  every  branch  of  science,  whether  physical,  intellectual,  or 
moral,  there  are  fixed  data,  facts  certified  by  the  testimony  of 
sense  or  consciousness,  and  truths  which  are  self-evident.  If 
these  are  primary  lessons  taught  to  children,  they  are  also  the 
most  important.  They  are  absolutely  certain,  they  are  immu- 
table, and  they  are  the  basis  and  condition  of  all  subsequent 
progress.  The  remotest  and  grandest  results  which  Newton 
ever  reached  in  applying  the  calculus  to  the  problems  of  astro- 
nomy were  immediately  dependent  on  the  fundamental  rules  of 
arithmetic  which  we  teach  in  the  primary  department  of  our 
schools ;  and  with  respect  to  practical  and  general  utility  they 
are  immeasurably  more  important  than  their  most  abstruse  and 
distant  applications. 

The  progressives,  whom  we  have  in  mind,-  are  fond  of  compar- 
ing the  history  and  advancement  of  the  world  to  the  different 
stages  of  human  life,  and  since,  in  their  judgment,  mankind 
have  now  reached  their  majority,  it  is  time  to  put  away  the 
childish  beliefs  and  crude  conceptions  of  former  ages.  It  is 
readily  granted  that  the  difference  is  great  between  the  know- 
ledge of  a  man  and  that  of  a  child,  and  that  in  many  respects 
experience  and  education  correct  and  displace  early  impressions, 


298  TRUTH  IN  LOVE. 

but  there  are  some  impressions  and  ideas  which  are  never  lost 
or  rejected.  They  are  the  very  elements  of  knowledge,  laws  of 
thought,  germs  of  all  progress,  and  are  so  early  and  completely 
incorporated  with  the  intellectual  constitution,  that  they  seem  to 
be  part  of  our  nature.  The  material  objects  which  first  greet 
the  opening  senses  of  a  child  remain  in  view  till  its  eyes  are 
closed  in  death,  and  that  belief  in  the  objective  reality  of  the 
material  world,  which  only  the  folly  of  idealistic  philosophy 
doubts,  then  takes  root,  and  other  elementary  convictions  are  im- 
planted which  not  only  lay  the  foundation  for  future  acquisi- 
tions, but  determine  their  general  nature  and  their  shape.  A 
thousand  childish  opinions  and  impressions  may  fade  insensibly 
away  in  the  light  of  an  expanding  intellect  and  an  enlarged  expe- 
rience, but  these  rudimental  ideas  and  early  behefs  abide,  and 
the  analogy,  when  fairly  interpreted,  rather  confirms  than  invali- 
dates the  position  that  the  vital  and  controlling  truths  of  theo- 
logy are  permanent  and  immutable,  not  only  changeless  and  cer- 
tain in  themselves,  but  also  as  to  their  substance  and  general 
form  in  the  faith  of  the  church. 

But  there  is  nothing  that  bears  with  such  decisive  force  on 
this  question  as  the  fact  that  the  data  of  all  Christian  theology 
are  furnished  in  a  positive  and  supernatural  revelation.  ' '  Litera 
scripta  manet,''  (the  written  letter  remains.)  We  have  a  Book 
written  in  the  language  of  men,  containing  the  verbal  expression 
and  orderly  statement  of  truth.  Claiming  our  faith  in  its  teach- 
ings on  the  ground  of  its  divine  Authorship,  it  addresses  itself 
to  our  understanding,  and  is  to  be  explained  in  accordance  with 
the  established  laws  of  human  language.  Much  of  it  is  given  in 
the  simplest  form  of  composition,  in  biography  and  history,  and, 
taking  it  together,  the  Bible  is  a  plain  book,  and  in  point  of  fact 
is  understood  in  the  same  way,  on  vital  points,  by  an  overwhelm- 
ing majority  of  all  its  readers.  ^ 


THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  PROGRESS.  299 

Considering  the  source  from  which  it  proceeds,  and  the  pur- 
pose for  which  it  is  given,  we  might  expect  the  truths  necessary 
to  salvation  to  underhe  all  its  parts,  to  be  often  recurred  to,  and 
to  be  embodied  in  the  most  explicit  announcements.  And  is  not 
this  the  character  of  the  word  of  God?  That  men  of  equal 
learning  and  honesty  differ  in  their  interpretation  and  views  of 
particular  doctrines,  and  that  these  differences  are  regarded  as 
of  sufficient  magnitude  to  justify  the  division  of  the  church  into 
separate  denominations,  we  know,  but  it  only  proves  that  on 
points  of  less  importance  the  light  of  Scripture  is  not  so  full 
and  clear  as  in  reference  to  those  which  concern  the  essence  of 
Christian  doctrine  and  the  very  being  of  experimental  and  prac- 
tical godliness ;  and  we  remember  that  equal  diversities  of  opi- 
nion in  view  of  the  same  premises  and  sources  of  knowledge 
exist  in  relation  to  every  important  subject  of  human  thought. 
If  liberal  and  progressive  theologians  contemplated  no  more 
than  the  advancement  in  divine  knowledge  which  clears  up 
Biblical  obscurities,  harmonizes  the  smaller  differences  of  evan- 
gelical Christians,  and  enables  all  the  servants  of  God  to  see  eye 
to  eye ;  or,  if  their  idea  of  the  way  and  measure  in  which  the 
progress  of  physical  science  bears  on  theology,  were  that,  in  giv- 
ing us  a  wider  and  truer  view  of  the  works  of  God,  it  gave  us  a 
juster  conception  of  his  word,  as  when  the  Copernican  system  of 
astronomy  displaced  the  Ptolemaic,  or  the  discoveries  of  geology 
revealed  a  stupendous  series  of  creations  before  the  coming  in 
of  man  and  earth,  in  their  present  relations, — if  onlj^  these  and 
like  modifications  of  Christian  belief  were  in  the  expectation  and 
aim  of  any,  there  would  be  no  controversy  between  us.  To  this 
extent  we  believe  in  progress,  and  Christianity  has  nothing  to 
fear,  but  rather  has  much  to  hope  from  the  deepest  researches 
of  true  science  and  sound  philosophy. 


300  TRUTH  IN  LOVE. 

If  the  "advanced  thinkers "  who  glory  in  their  freedom  from 
the  shackles  of  dogmatism  could  go  no  further  than  this,  we 
doubt,  from  the  spirit  they  betray,  whether  they  would  feel  zeal 
enough  to  go  even  thus  far.  The  game  they  are  in  quest  of  is 
more  important ;  and  the  keenness  with  which  they  investigate 
every  lane  and  by-path  of  criticism,  and  history,  and  archaeo- 
logy, is  prompted  by  inveterate  opposition  to  those  great  cardi- 
nal truths  on  which  the  living  church  of  God  is  founded.  If 
only  the  dross  and  tin  of  human  frailty,  the  "wood,  hay,  and 
stubble"  which  mistaken  builders  have  placed  on  the  Rock  of 
Ages,  were  cast  into  the  alembic  of  their  destructive  criticism, 
we  should  bid  them  God-speed  ;  but  when  the  truths  which  the 
church  has  ever  clung  to  with  the  same  faith  and  affection  that 
she  gave  to  her  Divine  and  glorious  Head  are  thus  handled,  and 
we  are  told  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  of  the  Godhead  and 
sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  regeneration,  and  of  a  future  and 
eternal  recompense  in  another  world  are  vanishing  from  the 
minds  of  men,  and  no  longer  able  to  hold  their  place  in  theology 
or  Scripture,  because,  forsooth,  the  spirit  of  free  inquiry  is 
abroad  in  the  world,  and  an  unparalleled  advance  has  taken 
place  in  secular  knowledge  and  Biblical  learning,  we  demur,  and 
cannot  persuade  ourselves  that  "  the  foundations  of  many  gene- 
rations ' '  are  to  be  thus  summarily  swept  away.  It  is  more  than 
we  can  credit,  that  the  church,  for  eighteen  hundred  years  after 
the  canon  of  Scripture  was  complete,  has  been  ignorant  and  mis- 
guided as  to  the  fundamental  articles  of  her  creed,  and  that, 
upon  such  points  as  these,  the  apostles,  and  the  fathers,  and  the 
reformers,  and  the  martyrs,  were  destitute  of  a  light  which  has 
been  vouchsafed  to  the  students  and  rhetoricians  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  That  the  Scriptures,  like  the  material  universe,  are 
an  inexhaustible  study,  and  that  every  age  may  add  something 


THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  PROGRESS.  301 

to  the  treasury  of  things  new  and  old  which  are  brought  there- 
from is  true ;  but  no  more  true  than  that  the  grand  and  charac- 
teristic doctrines  of  revealed  religion  strike  the  reader  of  the 
Scripture  at  first  view,  even  as  the  salient  and  obtrusive  features 
of  the  earth  and  heavens  force  themselves  on  the  notice  of  all 
beholders.  If  the  subject  of  predestination  has  been  disputed 
without  a  satisfactory  issue  and  general  concord,  and  if  the  mys- 
tery of  the  Lord's  Supper  still  divides  the  faithful,  when  was 
there  a  time,  since  the  beginning  of  the  gospel,  in  which  the 
disciples  of  Jesus  did  not  believe  in  the  fact  of  sin,  the  grace  of 
forgiveness,  the  need  of  holiness,  the  atonement  of  Christ,  the 
work  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  life  everlasting? 

That  these  great  and  controlling  doctrines  of  evangelical  reli- 
gion are  in  the  Scriptures,  and  so  manifestly  there  that  all 
seekers  of  truth  are  sure  to  find  them,  is  not  more  conclusively 
proved  by  the  fact  that  the  faith  of  the  church  has  always  em- 
braced them,  than  by  the  nature  of  the  means  which  their  im- 
pugners  employ  to  discredit  and  explode  them.  Professing  to 
receive  the  Scriptures  as  a  revelation  from  God,  the  legitimate 
and  obvious  method  of  deciding  the  question  whether  these  doc- 
trines are  contained  in  the  Book,  would  be  to  fight  the  battle 
out  on  the  field  of  interpretation.  The  controversy  is  reduced 
within  the  narrow  limits  of  this  question  of  fact :  What  is  writ- 
ten? Do  the  words  of  Scripture,  explained  in  accordance  with 
the  laws  of  language,  and  the  recognized  rules  of  exegesis,  teach 
these  truths,  or  do  they  not?  If  with  such  lights  and  by  such 
arguments  it  cannot  be  shown  that  no  such  doctrines  are  taught 
by  the  writers  of  Scripture,  there  is,  in  all  fairness,  an  end  of 
the  dispute,  and  neither  party  has  the  shadow  of  a  right  to  go 
outside  of  the  record,  and  both  are  in  honour  bound  to  abide  by 

its  verdict. 
26 


302  TRTTTTT   IN   LOVE. 

Far  different  is  the  course  pursued  by  a  large  and  influential 
section  of  those  who  assail  the  fundamental  principles  of  the. 
Christian  faith.  They  reject  the  arbiter  by  whose  decision  they 
had  pledged  themselves  to  abide.  They  impugn  the  infallibility 
of  the  sacred  oracles,  and  thus  confess  that,  in  their  obvious 
meaning,  the  Scriptures  do  teach  the  doctrines  which  a  liberal 
and  progressive  Christianity  discards.  If  they  do  not  teach  these 
doctrines,  there  would  be  no  reason  for  appealing  from  them  to 
another  tribunal:  and  the  very  fact  that  such  an  appeal  is  taken, 
is  one  of  the  most  satisfactory  confessions  ever  made  as  to  what 
the  actual  sense  of  the  Scriptures  is. 

A  witness  is  not  impeached  unless  his  testimony  is  likely  to 
have  a  damaging  effect.  Those  who  in  this  manner  dishonour 
and  degrade  Scripture,  are  men  who  in  words  profess  that  they 
reverence  its  authority,  and  find  in  its  pages  a  divine  communi- 
cation. Many  of  them  speak  and  write  under  the  solemnity  of 
ordination  vows,  which  bind  them  to  hold  forth  the  unadulter- 
ated truth  of  Grod  in  their  ministrations ;  and  if  any  one  should 
say  they  were  teachers  of  infidelity,  he  would  be  accused  by  them 
with  making  an  unfounded  charge,  and  using  offensive  epithets ; 
but  it  is  quite  impossible  to  resist  the  conviction  that  they  are 
traitors  in  the  camp,  who,  under  the  plausible  disguise  of  ren- 
dering Christianity  acceptable  or  less  offensive  to  thinking  men, 
are  undermining  its  strongholds,  and  preparing  to  surrender  the 
ciUidel  of  the  faith  to  its  foes.  They  appear  to  have  infinitely 
more  respect  for  the  intelligence  of  the  age, — for  the  cavils  and 
skepticism  of  an  unbelieving  world, — than  for  the  most  sacred 
convictions  of  those  who  love  and  reverence  the  word  of  God ; 
and  they  seem  to  experience  high  delight  in  exploding,  as  they 
think,  those  blessed  truths  in  the  faith  of  which  men  "of 
whom  the  world  was  not  worthy"  have  lived  and  laboured,  have 


THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  PROGRESS.  303 

suifered  and  died,  since  the  day  tliat  Christ  ascended  to  glory. 
And  not  the  spirit  only  which  is  diffused  through  their  writings, 
but  the  desperate  methods  to  which  they  have  recourse  in  deal- 
ing with  the  Bible,  at  once  define  their  own  position  in  the  re- 
ligious world,  and  prove  that  the  truths  of  evangelical  Chris- 
tianity are  so  deeply  imbedded  in  the  sacred  record,  that  even 
the  most  violent  "  wresting  "  of  the  Scriptures  is  insufficient  to 
dislodge  them.  The  resources  of  criticism,  philology,  and  dia- 
lectic subtlety  are  used,  not  so  much  to  bring  out  their  sense,  as 
to  sap  the  foundations  of  their  Divine  authority ;  not  so  much 
to  ascertain  what  they  say,  as  to  prove  that  when  it  is  ascer- 
tained it  cannot  be  certainly  relied  on  as  an  oracle  from  God. 
The  inspiration  and  infallibility  of  the  Scriptures  are  assailed 
on  a  great  variety  of  grounds,  and  from  many  standpoints; 
with  respect  to  matters  of  criticism,  history,  science,  and  morals. 
Even,  it  is  alleged  that  all  that  the  Bible  contains  cannot  be  in- 
spired. They  say  it  contains  contradictions  and  anachronisms, 
and  manifold  marks  of  human  infirmity :  and  yet  they  acknow- 
ledge it  as,  in  some  sense,  a  communication  from  Heaven. 

How  to  eliminate  the  human  error  so  as  to  retain  the  Divine 
truth,  presents  a  problem  which  to  other  men  might  be  difficult, 
but  to  them  it  is  easy  of  solution.  Men  themselves  must  judge 
of  the  Book,  accepting  what  to  them  appears  true  and  worthy 
of  God,  and  rejecting  all  that  does  not.  The  highest  authority 
to  which  they  defer,  is  their  own  reason  and  moral  nature, — the 
"verifying  faculty," — to  whose  ultimate  judgment  all  that  pur- 
ports to  be  a  message  from  God  must  be  submitted,  even  though 
it  were  attended  with  the  most  stupendous  miracles  of  knowledge 
and  power.  "  It  is  no  longer  held  sufficient,"  says  one  of  them, 
"to  rest  doctrines  on  texts  of  Scripture,  one,  two,  or  more, 
which  contain,  or  appear  to  contain,  similar  words  or  ideas. 


304  TRUTH  IN  LOVE. 

They  are  connected  more  closely  with  our  moral  nature ;  extreme 
consequences  are  shunned,  large  allowances  are  made  for  the  ig- 
norance of  mankind."*  Such  men  are  not  partial  to  dogmatic 
theology ;  creeds  and  confessions  which  enunciate  the  truth  so 
sharply  as  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  misconstruction  or  equi- 
vocation incur  their  contempt.  The  Christianity  which  has  its 
basis  in  verbal  statements  and  logical  propositions  is  too  angular 
and  definite  for  the^i,  and  they  take  refuge  in  that  vague  and 
indeterminate  thing  which  they  call  "the  life,"  and  which  is 
developed  from  within,  instead  of  being  inspired  from  above. 
"The  never-changing  truth  of  the  Christian  life"  is  the  only 
permanent  and  immutable  element  of  Christianity  which  they 
admit,  and  they  seem  in  love  with  it,  because  it  means  nothing, 
and  leaves  every  man  to  think  and  do  what  is  right  in  his  own 
eyes.  The  rrpcoTov  ipsvSos,  the  first  lie,  of  this  phase  of  modern 
unbelief  is  no  novelty.  It  is  the  old  controversy  which  has  been 
waged  from  the  beginning  between  faith  in  a  supernatural  reve- 
lation, and  a  proud  reliance  on  the  dictates  of  nature  and  the 
discoveries  of  reason.  It  is  the  natural  preference  of  an  unsanc- 
tified  heart  for  a  human  philosophy,  rather  than  for  a  revealed 
religion.  Its  advocates  largely  insist  that  the  progress  of  science 
and  civilization  brings  out  the  sense  of  Scripture ;  and  we  sub- 
'  mit  whether  their  writings  do  not  throw  a  flood  of  light  on  the 
relation  of  antagonism  which  the  apostle  Paul  represents  as 
existing  between  "the  wisdom  of  men,"  and  the  mysteries  of 
salvation  by  the  cross  of  Christ.  And  whether  the  man  who 
now  studiously  rejects  from  the  little  that  he  does  believe  the 
divinity  and  atonement  of  the  Son  of  God,  is  not  in  the  succes- 
sion from  those  Greeks  to  whom  the  preaching  of  the  cross  was 
"foolishness,"  because  it  could  not  be  subjected  to  "rational 
*  Jovvett,  in  Essays  and  Reviews. 


THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  PROGRESS.  305 

criticism,"  and  who  would  not  hear  him  after  he  mentioned  the 
"resurrection,"  because  no  such  thing  was  dreamed  of  in  their 
philosophy.  "Reason  and  faith,"  which  God  hath  joined  to- 
gether in  the  constitution  of  the  human  soul,  and  whose  union 
and  mutual  service  he  has  ordained  as  the  necessary  condition 
of  acquiring  both  earthly  and  heavenly  wisdom,  are  by  rational- 
istic unbelief  put  asunder,  and  set  in  relations  of  hostility  to  each 
other :  and  because  the  transcendental  mysteries  of  redemption 
cannot  be  demonstrated  from  premises  within  our  own  reach,  or ' 
do  not  reveal  themselves  immediately  to  our  intuitions,  they  are 
repudiated  as  incredible  and  absurd. 

That  this  is  most  unreasonable  may  be  seen  in  its  assuming 
what  can  never  be  shown  to  be  true,  viz. ,  the  impossibility  of 
supernatural  communications  from  Grod  to  men — an  impossibility 
which  all  the  positive  evidences  of  Christianity  go  to  disprove. 

It  is  not  to  reason,  but  to  the  false  relation  in  which  reason  is 
placed,  and  the  perverted  use  to  which  it  is  applied,  that  the  re- 
velations of  the  gospel  are  opposed.  As  far  as  reason  sees,  it  is 
our  guide ;  when  it  reaches  the  boundary  of  its  discoveries,  faith 
in  a  well-attested  revelation  from  God  comes  to  our  assistance, 
and  opens  a  vista  of  supernal  glories,  in  which  are  things  that 
eye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard,  nor  man's  heart  in  all  its  ques- 
tionings and  criticisms  has  ever  conceived.  The  one  supple- 
ments the  other.  In  the  graceful  allegory  of  Henry  Eogers: 
"Reason  and  Faith  are  twin-born;  the  one  in  form  and  fea- 
tures the  image  of  manly  beauty ;  the  other  of  feminine  grace 
and  gentleness ;  but  to  each  of  whom,  alas !  is  allotted  a  sad 
privation.  While  the  bright  eyes  of  Reason  are  fulT  of  piercing 
and  restless  intelligence,  his  ear  is  closed  to  sound ;  and  while 
Faith  has  an  ear  of  exquisite  delicacy,  on  her  sightless  orbs,  as 

she  lifts  them  heavenward,  the  sunbeam  plays  in  vain.     Hand 
26* 


306  TRUTH   IN   LOVE. 

in  hand  the  brother  and  sister  in  all  mutual  love  pursue  their 
way  through  a  world  on  which,  like  ours,  day  breaks  and  night 
falls  alternate ;  by  day  the  eyes  of  Reason  are  the  guide  of  Faith, 
and  by  night  the  ear  of  Faith  is  the  guide  of  Reason."  En- 
lightened Christianity  appreciates  and  uses  both ;  the  advocates 
of  a  progressive  theology,  which  leaves  the  Scriptures  behind 
it  while  professing  a  qualified  faith  in  their  revelations,  enthrone 
Reason  as  the  supreme  judge  and  the  last  and  highest  source  of 
truth.  The  divinity  within  is  the  oracle  they  credit,  the  voice 
of  the  people  is  to  them  the  voice  of  God. 

And  to  the  dark  and  dubious  sayings  of  such  an  inspiration, 
they  would  remand  for  rest  those  who  have  wearied  themselves 
in  the  greatness  of  their  way,  amid  the  literalities  of  Scripture 
and  the  jarring  theologies  of  the  church !  Was  ever  a  thought 
so  preposterous?  That  man's  moral  nature  is  fixed  and  immu- 
table in  the  essential  elements  that  belong  to  it,  such  as  the  ac- 
countability and  freedom  of  which  it  can  never  be  divested,  to- 
gether with  the  sin  which  defiles  the  conscience  and  alienates  the 
heart  from  Grod  and  blinds  the  understanding,  we  know  well 
enough ;  but  that  its  deliverances  on  the  high  and  momentous 
questions  which  concern  the  nature,  relations,  duties,  dangers, 
salvation,  and  destiny  of  man  are  the  only  certain,  final,  and 
permanent  truths  of  theology,  is  something  we  have  not  been 
able  to  see,  nor  can  we  understand  exactly  what  and  where  the 
oracle  is  that  utters  them.  If  it  be  the  universal  reason  and 
conscience  of  the  race,  in  what  book  are  they  embodied,  and 
who  has  prepared  a  "harmony"  of  the  gospels  according  to 
Zoroaster  and  Mohammed,  or  who  has  collated  the  books  of 
Confucius  with  the  book  of  Mormon,  and  who,  out  of  the  un- 
written traditions  of  all  ages  and  all  climes,  has  gathered  and 
stated  the  moral  and  religious  truth  in  which  all  agree?    Is 


THE  LAW  OF  HUIHAN  PROGRESS.  307 

there  any  such  thing  as  this  accepted  creed  of  the  universal  rea- 
son and  moral  nature  of  mankind?  As  to  the  first  principle  of 
all  theology,  the  being  of  a  God,  what  does  it  amount  to? 
The  atheist  says  there  is  no  God;  the  pantheist  that  there 
is  no  being  but  God ;  the  polj^theist  that  there  are  many 
gods ;  the  interior  tribes  of  Africa  find  their  conceptions  of  a 
divinity  realized  in  the  conjurer  who  professes  to  bring  them 
rain ;  the  Christian  bows  down  at ' '  the  throne  of  the  King  eter- 
nal, immortal,  and  invisible."  If  such  diversities,  contradic- 
tions, and  absurdities  arise  under  the  tuition  of  man's  moral 
nature  and  unassisted  reason,  in  reference  to  the  most  funda- 
mental article  of  religion,  it  is  vain  to  seek  repose  in  its  teach- 
ings from  the  unrest  of  doubt  and  uncertainty. 

It  does  not  furnish  the  elements  of  an  abiding  and  fixed  theo- 
logy. If,  instead  of  trying  to  catch  the  voice  of  universal  hu- 
manity, as  it  rises  in  the  discordant  speech  of  all  nations,  and 
echoes  along  the  track  of  the  centuries,  we  descend  to  sections, 
schools,  coteries,  and  individuals,  who  assume  to  give  forth  the 
witness  of  reason  and  nature  on  the  solemn  problems  of  man's 
duty  and  destiny,  what  have  we  but  a  perfect  Babel  of  contra- 
dictory opinions?  Their  only  and  absolute  unity  consists  in  a 
common  opposition  to  evangelical  truth. 

A  fallacy  which  vitiates  all  their  speculations  and  reasonings 
is  the  assumption  that  the  moral  nature,  the  intuitional  con- 
sciousness, or  by  whatever  name  it  may  be  called,  is,  or  can  be, 
a  source  of  transcendental  truths  which  lie  beyond  the  sphere 
of  rational  demonstration,  and  are  not  embraced  in  that  of  ne- 
cessary convictions.  It  is  a  judge  rather  than  a  revealer;  a 
faculty  or  a  susceptibility  to  be  educated  and  enlightened,  not 
an  oracle  at  whose  feet  we  are  to  sit  down ;  and  though  it  be 
capable,  as  it  is  alleged,  of  developing  only  in  certain  directions 


308  TRUTH  IN  LOVE. 

and  "to  certain  effects,"  the  development  ranges  up  and  down 
on  a  scale  whicli  is  nearly  immense.  "We  have  an  original 
susceptibility  of  music,  of  beauty,  of  religion,"  it  is  said. 
"Granted,"  replies  the  writer  already  quoted,  "but  as  the 
actual  development  of  the  susceptibility  exhibits  all  the  diver- 
sities between  Handel's  notions  of  harmony,  and  those  of  an 
American  Indian,  between  Raphael's  notions  of  beauty  and  those 
of  a  Hottentot ;  between  St.  Paul's  notions  of  a  Grod,  and  those 
of  a  New  Zealander,  it  would  appear  that  the  education  of  this 
susceptibility  is  at  least  as  important  as  the  susceptibility  itself, 
if  not  more  so."  We  must,  therefore,  conclude  that,  repudiat- 
ing the  Divine  authority  of  Scripture,  or  which  amounts  to  the 
same  thing,  bringing  its  contents  to  the  bar  of  reason  to  be  con- 
demned or  approved,  gives  small  promise  of  repose  from  the 
war  of  conflicting  beliefs,  and  presents  no  sort  of  temptation  to 
those  who  have  cast  the  anchor  of  their  hope  and  faith  on  the 
solid  rock  of  Grod's  eternal  truth.  The  data  of  a  fixed  and  im- 
mutable theology  are  contained  in  the  revelations  of  Him  whose 
omniscient  eye  at  one  and  the  same  look  pierced  the  recesses 
of  our  nature,  and  saw  the  "end  from  the  beginning"  of  hu- 
man progress,  and  who  gave  such  discoveries  of  truth,  in  nature, 
manner,  amount,  in  words  even,  as  would  be  adapted  and  suffi- 
cient for  all  time,  and  for  all  the  possible  vicissitudes  of  the  race. 
It  needs  no  supplementary  additions,  admits  of  no  subtractions, 
and  denounces  the  woes  it  predicts  on  every  one  who  mutilates 
it  in  either  respect. 

And  to  deny  or  doubt  that  on  all  vital  points  it  is  well  and 
rightly  understood,  would  approach  very  nearly  to  blaspheming 
its  Author,  by  saying  that  he  had  given  to  the  world  a  revelation 
of  the  way  of  life,  which  still  left  men  in  darkness,  after  the 
study  and  experience  of  two  thousand  years !     Was  ever  Del- 


THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  PROGRESS.  309 

phic  utterance  more  ambiguous  ?  If  tlie  aim  had  been  to  hide 
the  truth  under  the  pretence  of  making  it  known,  could  the  suc- 
cess by  any  possibility  have  been  more  complete?  The  avowed 
design  of  Grod  in  speaking  to  men  at  all,  the  promise  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  dwell  with  the  church  for  ever,  leading  the  dis- 
ciples of  Jesus  into  "all  truth,"  and  the  historical  fact,  that 
I  those  who  have  clung  to  the  articles  of  faith  in  which  evangeli- 
cal Christians  are  agreed,  have  been  "a  peculiar  people,  zealous 
of  good  works,"  the  conservators  of  truth  and  holiness  on  the 
earth, — all  serve  to  assure  us  that  "the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus 
has  been  found  and  understood,  confessed  and  obeyed,  and  that 
in  the  happy  experience  of  millions  on  earth,  and  of  myriads  in 
heaven,  his  prayer,  that  men  might  know  "the  only  true  Grod, 
and  Jesus  Christ  whom  he  had  sent,"  has  received  its  blissful 
answer.  While,  therefore,  we  have  "  no  faith  in  the  infallibility 
of  the  church,  we  have  unbounded  confidence  in  the  truth  of 
what  all  Christians  believe."* 

'  n.  But  while  we  would  thus  "  earnestly  contend  for  the  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints, ' '  and  insist  that  truth  is  immutable 
as  the  God  of  truth  from  whom  it  emanates,  and  as  the  Scrip- 
tures in  which  it  is  expressed,  and  whilst  with  equal  confidence 
we  urge  that  the  elements  of  a  fixed  and  permanent  theology 
exist  in  the  doctrines  which  the  faithful  in  all  ages  and  in  all 
parts  of  Christendom  have  embraced,  we  are  not  blind  to  the 
fact,  and  have  no  sort  of  reason  for  disguising  it,  that  theology 
itself  has  a  history  which  shows  the  alternate  progress  and  de- 
cay of  sound  doctrine.  This  history  is  not  that  of  truth  in  the 
abstract,  but  of  truth  in  its  relations  to  the  mind  of  man ;  the 
object  of  intellectual  apprehension  and  of  faith,  and  subject  to 
all  the  influences  from  without  and  from  within  which  either 
*  Dr.  Hodge. 


310  TRUTH  IN  LOVE. 

facilitate  or  hinder  its  reception.  This  fact,  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  has  given  rise  to  the  most  important  branch  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal history — that  of  doctrines — which  "shows  how  the  mind 
of  the  church  has  gradually  apprehended  and  unfolded  the 
divine  truth,  given  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  how  the  teach- 
ings of  Scripture  have  come  to  form  the  dogmas  of  the 
church,  and  have  grown  into  systems  stamped  with  public  au- 
thority."* 

A  progress  like  this  implies  a  certain  degree  of  imperfection, 
and,  within  certain  limits,  a  degree  of  mutability  in  the  church's 
views  and  statements  even  of  the  most  fundamental  doctrines ; 
and  shows  how  she  has  "struggled  for  centuries  to  find  language 
sufficiently  precise  to  express  her  consciousness  respecting  them. ' '  f 
She  has  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  under  a  discipline 
analogous  to  that  by  which  individual  believers  get  an  insight 
into  the  promises  of  the  gospel,  and  come  to  the  experimental 
knowledge  of  its  strong  consolations, — by  the  trials,  and  sorrows, 
and  opposition  she  has  met  with  in  her  progress  toward  the 
light  and  purity  of  her  millennial  state.  A  change  of  circum- 
stances brings  new  truths  to  view,  or  at  least  sets  them  in  clearer 
light,  and  in  new  relations  to  the  system  of  doctrine  and  the  life 
of  the  church.  So  much  is  this  the  case,  that  certain  periods 
are  famous  for  the  triumphant  vindication  and  establishment  of 
some  one  great  truth  of  the  Christian  system, — as  of  the  person 
of  Christ,  original  sin,  justification  by  faith,  and  the  doctrines 
of  grace,  as  opposed  to  Arminian  free-will,  which  are  severally 
linked  in  history  with  the  names  of  Athanasius  and  Augustine, 
with  Luther  and  the  Synod  of  Dort.  Every  creed  in  Christen- 
dom bears  the  marks  of  theological  controversy,  and  carries  in 
itself,  in  its  language  and  form,  the  history  of  the  period  in 
*  Dr.  Schafif.        f  ^^'-  Hodge. 


THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  PROGRESS.  311 

which  it  originated.  If  there  is,  as  Mr.  Trench  has  shown,  a 
"history  in  words,"  there  is  certainly  a  history  in  creeds  and 
confessions,  whose  very  terms  are  abiding  memorials  of  the  con- 
flicts which  gave  them  birth. 

Among  the  causes  which  modify  the  form,  and,  to  some  ex- 
tent, affect  the  substance  of  theology,  we  would  not  be  disposed 
to  assign  a  place  of  much  importance  to  temperament  and  origi- 
nal differences  of  mental  constitution. 

Some  have  thought  they  could  trace  the  influence  of  tempera- 
ment even  in  the  subjects  treated  by  the  different  apostles,  and 
have  spoken  of  James  as  phlegmatic,  of  Peter  as  sanguine,  of 
Paul  as  choleric,  and  of  John  as  melancholic :  but  we  judge  that 
whatever  may  have  been  their  physical  conditions,  it  was  not 
these,  but  the  Spirit  of  God,  that  inspired  their  doctrines ;  and 
we  feel  quite  sure  that  it  is  the  depravity  of  the  heart,  more 
than  any  peculiarity  of  bodily  or  mental  organization,  that  muti- 
lates or  prevents  the  clear  perception  and  complete  embrace 
of  divine  truth. 

Nevertheless,  something  may  be  conceded  to  differences  of 
race  and  nationality,  and  even  to  individual  idiosyncrasies. 
Evangelical  theology,  as  it  exists  in  the  mind  of  a  Frenchman, 
or  of  a  German,  or  of  an  Oriental  convert,  though  identical  in 
substance,  is  not  precisely  the  same  ' '  formation  "  as  in  the  di- 
rect, common-sense,  and  logical  mind  of  the  Anglo-saxon.  With 
them,  emotion,  philosophic  subtlety,  and  a  glowing  imagination 
shape  and  colour  the  truth :  with  us,  a  severe  logic  casts  it  into 
formal  and  definite  propositions.  And  as  it  regards  individual 
minds,  theology,  as  a  system  of  truth  believed,  and  as  a  science 
developed,  is  not  precisely  the  same  thing  as  it  lies  in  the  con- 
ception and  understanding  of  different  persons.  This  is  a  neces- 
sary result  of  the  imperfection,  or  at  least  the  limits  of  the  hu- 


312  TRUTH  IN  LOVE. 

man  mind :  but  it  argues  no  imperfection  of  the  truth ;  it  is 
rather  a  mark  of  its  divinity. 

As  Dr.  Schaff  has  finely  remarked,  "  The  truth  of  the  gospel, 
in  itself  infinite,  can  adapt  itself  to  every  class,  to  every  tempera- 
ment, every  order  of  talent,  and  every  habit  of  thought.  Like 
the  light  of  the  sun,  it  breaks  into  various  colours,  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  bodies  on  which  it  falls ;  hke  the  jewel,  it 
emits  a  new  radiance  at  every  turn. ' ' 

A  similar  difi'erence  in  the  mode  of  apprehending  truth,  and, 
to  a  certain  extent,  also,  in  the  substance  of  the  doctrine  appre- 
hended, is  caused  by  difi'erence  in  the  culture,  taste,  character, 
and  spirit  of  successive  and  distant  ages  and  generations. 

Though  that  indefinite  and  impalpable  thing  called  "the 
spirit  of  the  age ' '  is  invoked  to  aid  the  cause  of  a  lax  and  lati- 
tudinarian  theology,  and  is  used  to  unsettle  and  dissipate  the 
old  beliefs  of  the  church,  it  is  a  matter  of  simple  observation 
and  history,  that  while  the  leaven  of  Divine  truth  pervades  and 
assimilates  the  mass  of  our  lapsed  humanity,  it  moves  in  the 
channels  which  at  any  time  it  finds  existing,  employs  the  imple- 
ments which  civilization  supplies  to  its  hands,  and  becomes  "  all 
things  to  all  men. ' '  Christianity  not  only  uses  difierent  methods 
in  its  practical  dealing  with  the  work  it  has  in  charge,  but  it 
presents  truth  in  new  proportions  and  new  phases,  as  providen- 
tial occasions  arise  ;  now  apologetic,  then  polemic ;  at  one  time 
dogmatic,  at  another  practical.  Each  of  these  in  its  time  is  the 
best  form  of  theology,  and  is  of  use  in  all  succeeding  time ;  but 
nothing  is  plainer  than  that  if  the  peculiarity  of  one  such  period 
were  carried  into  another,  and  truth  exhibited  in  the  same  rela- 
tions and  degrees,  it  would  be  shorn  of  its  power.  Retaining  its 
own  changeless  identity,  it  succeeds  by  "changing  its  voice," 
speaking  in  the  tongue,  and  after  the  manner,  and  according  tq 


THE  LAW  OP  HUMAN  PROGRESS.  313 

the  taste  of  the  times.  Its  image  is  not  a  granite  rock,  which 
lies  immovable  in  its  subterranean  bed,  the  same  in  its  every 
particle  since  it  was  melted  and  moulded  into  its  final  form  by 
the  internal  fires  of  the  globe.  It  is  rather  the  limpid  stream 
which  meanders  through  the  valleys,  flows  round  the  hills,  and 
reflects  from  its  glassy  bosom  the  beauties  of  the  adjacent  land- 
scape, and  the  glories  of  the  over-arching  sky. 

In  the  ages  past,  the  rise  of  heresies  and  errors  has  probably 
exerted  more  power  in  giving  form  and  proportion  to  theology 
than  any  other  single  cause.  In  our  times,  it  would  seem  that 
this  predominant  influence  is  exerted  by  the  increase  of  Biblical 
learning  and  the  progress  of  natural  science.  In  all  the  requisite 
appliances  for  a  critical  and  thorough  study  of  the  Scriptures, 
this  century  is  greatly  in  advance  of  the  past,  and  a  new  light 
has  been  thrown  on  the  sense  of  Scripture,  which,  with  inferior 
advantages,  was  hardly  attainable :  and  what  in  this  direction 
has  been,  is  that  which  shall  be.  To  conclude  that  no  further 
additions  will  be  made  from  the  better  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptures  to  the  existing  stock  of  Divine  truth  as  contained  in 
the  knowledge  and  creeds  of  the  church  would  be  as  presump- 
tuous as  to  affirm  that  physical  investigations  had  reached  the 
ultima  thule  of  their  progress,  that  no  more  inventions  in  the 
useful  or  fine  arts  were  to  be  expected,  and  that,  in  short,  the 
material  works  of  God  were  completely  explored  and  compre- 
hended. While  the  truth  which  is  necessary  to  the  being  of  the 
church  and  the  salvation  of  the  soul  lies  on  the  surface  of  Scrip- 
ture, it  is  doing  honour  to  God  to  believe  that  his  word  like  his 
works  is  sufficient  to  occupy  and  reward  the  study  of  the  church 
throughout  her  earthly  history.  Not  only  is  philology  directly 
tributary  to  the  better  understanding  of  the  Bible  and  to  the 
increase  of  our  knowledge  of  Divine  truth,  but  we  must  admit 
27 


314  TRUTH  IN  LOVE. 

that  the  progress  of  the  physical  sciences  since  the  incoming  of 
the  Baconian  philosophy,  and  especially  during  the  past  half- 
century,  has  shed  an  indirect  though  important  light  on  the 
meaning  of  some  parts  of  Divine  revelation.  It  is  true  that  an 
infidel  philosophy,  and  a  science  falsely  so-called,  have  presumed 
to  pronounce  its  statements  ignorant  and  mistaken,  and  we  should 
exercise  the  greatest  caution  in  admitting  the  dicta  of  any 
science  which  appear  to  conflict  with  the  natural  sense  of  the 
word  of  Grod,  yet  we  know  that  true  science  has  not  only  dis- 
closed an  inexhaustible  store  of  illustrations,  but  has  revealed  a 
fulness  and  a  grandeur  of  meaning  in  particular  passages,  which 
could  not  otherwise  have  been  detected.  If  when  men  thought 
that  the  earth  was  the  centre  of  the  system,  the  heavens  de- 
clared the  glory  of  God,  and  the  nocturnal  sky  evoked  the  sub- 
lime strains  of  the  Psalmist's  praise,  with  what  a  widened  reach 
of  thought,  and  in  view  of  how  much  grander  displays  of  Al- 
mighty power  and  wisdom,  do  we  exclaim,  "  0  Lord,  our  Lord, 
how  excellent  is  thy  name  in  all  the  earth!"  "When  I  con- 
sider thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers,  the  moon  and  the 
stars  which  thou  hast  ordained,  what  is  man,  that  thou  art  mind- 
ful of  him ;  or  the  son  of  man,  that  thou  visitest  him?" 

How  far  the  amount  and  the  forms  of  Christian  theology  may 
be  afi"ected  by  these  and  other  causes,  in  the  lapse  of  coming 
ages,  the  nature  of  the  case  forbids  our  knowing  or  even  conjec- 
turing. There  are  two  limits  within  which  it  will  be  confined, 
whatever  its  amount.  On  the  one  hand  it  will  be  bounded  by 
the  truths  of  the  gospel,  which  we  certainly  know,  and  will  be 
built  upon  them,  and  on  the  other  it  will  fall  far  short  of  the  un- 
clouded vision  of  the  heavenly'  state.  Between  these  limits 
there  is  a  vast  field  to  range  over,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  the  spiritual  knowledge  of  the  church  will  increase  with  the 


THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  PROGRESS.  315 

passing  centuries,  until,  in  its  millennial  brightness,  the  know- 
ledge of  Grod  which  shall  then  jSll  the  earth  as  the  waters  do  the 
seas,  will  be  distinguished  as  much  for  its  depth,  and  clearness, 
and  comprehensiveness,  as  for  its  universal  prevalence.  "The 
light  of  the  moon  shall  be  as  the  light  of  the  sun ;  and  the  light 
of  the  sun  shall  be  sevenfold  as  the  light  of  seven  days." 

We  should  not,  therefore,  as  it  seems  to  me,  be  afraid  of  any 
possible  advances  either  in  secular  learning  or  theological  inves- 
tigations, as  if  the  foundations  we  stand  upon  might  thereby  be 
endangered ;  nor  should  we  suffer  the  prejudice  naturally  begot- 
ten by  the  pretended  discoveries  of  rationalizing  and  infidel  pro- 
gressives to  close  our  eyes  to  the  important  truth  which  they 
distort  and  abuse. 

In  the  sense  and  under  the  limitations  suggested,  progress  is 
perfectly  consistent  with  the  staunchest  conservatism  :  living  in 
an  age  which  boldly  questions  and  freely  criticizes  every  thing 
in  morals,  and  politics,  and  religion,  which  the  traditions  of  the 
past  have  delivered  to  the  present,  we  need  to  be  well  established 
in  the  faith,  and  yet  so  far  in  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  pro- 
gress as  to  welcome  whatever  comes  to  us  with  the  clear  attesta- 
tion of  truth ;  and  be  willing  to  learn  the  defects  of  our  opinions 
even  from  our  enemies. 

The  application  of  these  views  to  the  existing  creeds  and  con- 
fessions of  the  church  opens  a  field  of  inquiry  of  no  small  impor- 
tance, and  of  considerable  difiiculty,  not  to  say  delicacj''.  That 
they  embody  the  essential  truths  of  the  gospel,  is  what  we  have 
specially  laboured  to  prove,  and  do  most  assuredly  believe. 

But  that  they  are  absolutely  faultless,  and  of  equal  authority 
with  the  Scriptures,  is  what  nothing  but  the  narrowest  and  most 
benighted  bigotry  would  pretend.  The  very  process  of  their 
development  amid  temptations  and  conflicts  with  error,  while  it 


316  TRUTH  IN  LOVE. 

stamps  them  in  their  essence  with  the  seal  of  divinity,  involves 
the  liability,  if  not  the  absolute  certainty,  of  their  being  cast  in 
moulds  that  are  marred  by  human  imperfection.  The  state 
of  learning  and  philosophy  at  the  time ;  the  degree  and  kind  of 
culture  possessed  by  their  framers ;  the  particular  controversies 
out  of  which  the  neces.sity  of  their  formation  arose,  and  the  here- 
sies at  which  they  were  aimed,  impress  upon  them  a  strictly  his- 
torical character,  and  involve,  of  necessity,  a  certain  degree  of 
one-sidedness.  The  logic,  the  learning,  and  the  philosophy  of 
the  age  leave  their  print  upon  them :  this  is  inevitable,  and  it  is 
of  the  nature  of  an  imperfection.  The  substantial  truth  is  there, 
but  not  in  the  words,  forms,  connexions,  and  proportions  in 
which  we  find  it  in  the  Scriptures.  As  it  respects  the  creeds  of 
the  several  Christian  denominations,  the  imperfection,  and  even 
the  error,  is  patent  on  their  face,  in  the  contradictions  they  op- 
pose to  each  other  on  points  of  secondary  importance.  The  gos- 
pel is  Divine ;  these  are  human ;  and  in  depressing  them  to  the 
position  which  rightfully  belongs  to  them,  we  only  seek  to  exalt 
the  word  of  God  to  its  throne  of  supreme  and  sole  authority. 

Heretics  hate  creeds,  because  their  own  errors  are  therein  con- 
demned, and  the  truth  is  set  forth  in  such  sharp  and  pointed 
antagonism,  that  no  refuge  of  ambiguity  remains :  for  this  pur- 
pose, as  well  as  for  the  indoctrination  of  the  church,  they  are  of 
excellent  use;  the  very  spear  of  Ithuriel  which  disrobes  the 
father  of  lies,  though  he  were  "transformed  as  an  angel  of 
light." 

But  there  is  a  danger  connected  with  their  use.  If  the 
"  form" — the  type — "  of  doctrine  in  which  our  views  and  expe- 
rience are  moulded  is  that  of  the  scientific  theology  of  the  creeds, 
instead  of  the  inspired  words  and  truths  of  the  Scriptures,  they 
will  be  so  far  more  human  and  less  divine,  and  the  mere  shape 


THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  PROGRESS.  317 

and  order  of  tnitli  will  be  likely  to  hold  a  place  in  our  minds 
whicli  should  be  assigned  to  its  substance.  This  tendency  is 
mainly  confined  to  ministers  of  the  gospel  and  students  of  theo- 
logy, who  study  divinity  as  a  science :  and  its  influence  is  most 
frequently  seen  in  young  preachers,  who  are  wont  to  use  the 
scholastic  nomenclature  of  the  text-books,  rather  than  the 
"words  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth."  It  is  always  done  at 
a  vast  sacrifice  of  practical  power  and  impression,  though  it  may, 
perchance,  save  the  interests  of  orthodoxy.  The  energy  and 
Spirit  of  God  are  in  the  word  of  God  as  they  are  not  in  anything 
else.  If  all  nature,  art,  history,  and  life  be  put  in  requisition 
to  illustrate  and  win  attention  to  their  expression,  let  ' '  no  wis- 
dom of  words,"  no  scientific  stifihess  and  artificial  niceties  ob- 
scure their  divine  beauty,  or  impede  their  living  power.  The 
creeds  savour  of  controversy ;  the  gospel  is  a  testimony,  and 
needs  not  dialectic  subtleties,  but  an  earnest  and  tender  procla- 
mation. "Controversy,"  said  Dr.  Chalmers,  addressing  his 
theological  classes,  ' '  may  lead  you  to  exchange  the  Scriptural 
for  the  scholastic  style,  so  that  instead  of  propounding  a  doctrine 
in  those  words  which  were  devised  by  God  for  the  direct  instruc- 
tion of  the  teachable,  you  may  propound  it  in  those  words  which 
have  been  devised  by  men  for  putting  down  the  heresies  of  gain- 
sayers:"  this  he  regarded  as  an  evil;  and  in  one  of  his  letters 
he  enlarged  on  what  he  terms  ' '  the  spontaneity  and  development 
of  the  immediate  oracles,"  in  contrast  with  "catechisms  which, 
however  correct  in  their  dogmata,  may  not  be  correct  in  their 
general  effect  upon  the  mind." 

If  the  scientific  and  controversial  statement  of  truth  is  liable 
to  objection  on  the  ground  of  its  one-sidedness  and  artificial 
jointing,  much  more  detrimental  to  its  impression  and  saving 

power  is  that  "deceitful  handling"  which  converts  the  gospel 
11* 


318  TRUTH  IN  LOVE. 

of  Christ  into  a  human  philosophy.  Instead  of  promulgating  it 
as  a  Divine  testimony,  and  demanding  the  "obedience  of  faith," 
for  "the  authority  of  God  speaking  therein,"  there  is  a  constant 
temptation  of  the  most  seductive  character  to  men  of  superior 
gifts,  not  only  to  throw  their  teachings  into  a  philosophic  form, 
but  to  find  the  very  foundations  of  the  Christian  faith  in  an 
earth-born- philosophy.  Not  content  with  seeking  for  illustra- 
tions and  analogies,  they  must  show  reasons  and  arguments,  and 
seem  to  feel  as  if  a  Divine  declaration  were  hardly  worthy  of 
credence,  unless  backed  by  their  own  demonstrations. 

Their  theories  of  psychology,  and  metaphysics,  and  the  moral 
government  of  God,  are  somewhat  more  fundamental  in  their 
apprehension  and  methods,  than  the  inspired  verities  of  Scrip- 
ture, which  must,  accordingly,  take  their  shape,  adjustment,  and 
expression  from  what  underlies  them.  This  precisely  is  what 
we  understand  the  apostle  Paul  to  condemn  in  terms  the  most 
emphatic,  as  that  which  makes  the  cross  of  Christ  "of  none 
effect. "  It  is  the  ' '  wisdom  of  words, ' '  and  the  ' '  enticing  words 
of  man's  wisdom"  which  "the  wise"  and  "the  scribe,"  and 
the  "  disputer  of  this  world,"  would  employ  to  express  the  doc- 
trines of  their  own  philosophy,  but  which  as  little  befit  the 
herald  and  teacher  of  gospel  mysteries,  as  the  cumbrous  armour 
of  the  king  was  suited  to  the  limbs  and  frame  of  the  shepherd- 
boy  who  "  assayed"  to  use  them. 
^  It  imparts  immense  weight  to  the  apostle's  repudiation  of  the 
methods  and  principles  of  the  Greek  philosophy  to  know  that 
he  was  schooled  therein,  and  could  have  met  its  masters  on  their 
own  ground.  For  one  who  is  incapable  of  such  speculations,  it 
is  no  act  of  self-denial  to  ignore  them,  but  in  Paul  it  required  a 
higher  courage  and  a  stronger  resolution  than  was  requisite  for 
fighting  with  beasts  at  Ephesus,  or  laying  his  head  on  the  block 


THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  PROGRESS.  319 

at  Rome,  to  "preach  Christ  crucified  in  a  crucified  language," 
and  in  the  presence  of  Epicureans  and  Stoips,  to  utter  the  deep 
things  of  God,  "  not  in  words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but 
which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth."  To  do  otherwise  is  to  strip 
the  gospel  of  its  grand  peculiarity  as  a  system  of  supernatural 
truth,  which  the  reason  of  man  can  neither  discover  nor  prove. 
It  is  to  substitute  the  authority  of  man  for  the  authority  of  God, 
and  to  reject  the  element  of  its  greatest  strength — the  faith 
which  the  soul  reposes  in  the  testimony  of  him  who  cannot  lie. 
"A  rationalistic  Christian,  a  philosophizing  theologian,"  as  has 
been  truly  remarked,  "  lays  aside  the  divine  for  the  human,  the 
wisdom  of  God  for  the  wisdom  of  men,  the  infinite  and  infallible 
for  the  finite  and  fallible.  The  success  of  the  gospel  depends  on 
its  being  presented,  not  as  the  word  of  man,  but  as  the  word  of 
God ;  not  as  something  to  be  proved,  but  as  something  to  be 
believed."* 

The  pulpit,  as  an  instrument  of  regeneration  and  life,  is  vitally 
conditioned  upon  a  faithful  adherence  to  these  principles.  De- 
parture therefrom  in  the  mode  and  spirit  in  which  divine  truth 
is  handled  may  attract  the  superficial,  and  please  the  carnally- 
minded,  but  it  will  not  prove  ' '  the  power  of  God  unto  salva- 
tion." The  word  and  not  man's  reasonings  upon  it  is  the  ham- 
mer that  breaks  the  flinty  rock,  the  two-edged  sword  that 
pierces  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and  spirit,  and  is  a  dis- 
cerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart.  Our  com- 
mission authorizes  and  commands  us  only  to  ' '  preach  the 
word," — to  proclaim  the  good  news, — to  "  testify  the  gospel  of 
the  grace  of  God. ' ' 

Thus  shall  we  finish  our  course  with  joy  to  ourselves,  with 
salvation  to  others,  and  with  glory  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
*  Dr.  Hodge,  on  2  Cor.  pp.  235,  236. 


320  TRUTH  IN  LOVE. 

The  views  now  suggested,  of  a  conservatively  progressive 
theology,  satisfy  two  of  the  profoundest  tendencies  or  instincts 
of  a  renewed  mind,  and  are  full  of  consolation.  They  leave  the 
Christian  in  the  assured  possession  of  what  he  has,  and  give  him 
the  promise  of  ever-increasing  knowledge.  They  satisfy  the  de- 
sire for  absolute  certainty,  and  for  indefinite  progress.  If  a 
suspicion  could  cross  the  mind  that  the  great  truths  on  which 
the  new  life  has  been  fed  should  ever  pale  their  brightness  in 
the  presence  of  other  revelations,  or  that  "the  glorious  gospel 
of  the  blessed  Grod"  should  be  found  to  have  answered  only  a 
temporary  use,  and  to  have  been  but  relatively  true,  it  would 
send  a  thrill  of  anguish  to  the  Christian  heart.  And  if,  on  the 
other  hand,  a  limit  were  assigned  to  our  knowledge  of  God  and 
truth,  the  future  of  existence  would  be  divested  of  one  of  its 
principal  charms,  and  would  become  almost  an  object  of  dread, 
instead  of  being,  as  it  now  is,  radiant  and  glorious  with  all  that 
inspires  hope,  and  makes  the  Christian  joyful  in  the  prospect 
of  immortality.  That  prospect  is  one  of  eternal  progression  in 
knowledge  ;  and  of  the  study  of  theology  in  a  clearer  light  and 
in  far  other  conditions  than  those  which  limit  our  view  and  re- 
tard our  advances  on  earth.  Now  we  are  slowly  and  laboriously 
acquainting  ourselves  with  the  rudiments  of  the  divine  science  ; 
then  we  shall  deal  with  its  highest  forms,  and  most  recondite 
mysteries.  Here  it  is  night,  there  it  is  day.  At  present  we  are 
children  in  understanding,  hereafter  we  shall  be  men. 

With  slow  and  unsteady  step,  we  walk  by  faith ;  when  faith 
is  changed  to  sight,  we  shall  move  on  with  bold  and  rapid  pace. 

' '  Now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly :  but  then  face  to  face. 
Now  I  know  in  part,  but  then  shall  I  know  even  as  also  I  am 
known." 


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